Observation
by Ala Alba EC
Summary: "…What are you aiming?" she blurted out without thinking. An Akagi smiled a nostalgic sentiment. "A heaven. Or should I say Shangri-La, a place where its inhabitants are enlightened."
1. Homura Akemi

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Knowing is half the battle, and Homura Akemi knew many things that the other don't._

**88888**

Alliteration three had passed, and she had failed again. This time by her hand, Madoka Kaname lost her life.

No, she thought to herself as she lied flat on her back, it was a mercy kill. She did it at her request, to stop her from turning into a Witch. To stop her, no, both of them from falling into their despair.

Homura gritted her teeth in frustration. There's must be something that she can do. She jumped down the hospital bed and walked to the bathroom. Staring at her reflection, she frowned at herself.

She was weak, that's why she always failed. If she became strong, that she will surely succeed. Killing Witches without effort like Mami-san and Kyouko, facing her fear and despair without turning into a monster at least for years to come, surviving the Walpurgisnacht with everyone. That sounded really nice even just for an imagination.

But she was weak, and she can't do all of those as long she was weak.

Hands tugging at her braids, she let her hair flowed like a curtain behind her. Several times already those braids tangled to things in the Witches' barrier. Those braids were nothing but hindrance, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it. Since she was small, people always praised her hair. Thick, soft, silky, they had said. She was proud with her hair. She was still a girl, after all.

Raising her hand to pick her glasses from her nose, she stopped.

'_You just need to become cooler!'_

'Can I?'

She then removed the glasses and healed the eyes with her Soul Gem.

**88888**

She had walked in circle for hours, constructing strategy for her next Walpurgisnacht. Everything that she threw at that Witch seemed to be useless until she has more than one ally by her side. Maybe it's just she didn't use enough explosive? Her pipe bombs only did that much damage, and weapons from yakuza hideouts were not sufficient for a large area damage that she needed to knock Walpurgis out of balance. If she raids military storage, will she get caught?

Homura threw herself to one of her couch. The Witches, she knew that they were Puella Magi who had fallen into their corruption. Just like their human self, they must have some kind of weakness, a soft underbelly behind tough scales and iron skin that she could exploit. Maybe it wasn't explosion that she need; it was the understanding of their fall from grace that she had to find out. But how?

Homura wasn't a fool, no matter what she said about herself after realizing just what kind of contract that she had signed, and she had noticed those strange letters that scattered inside the Witches' barriers. She didn't know what those letters mean, even though she had notice that several phrases were being repeated several times inside one barrier.

'Like a mantra…'

Something clicked in her head.

March the 17th 2011, Homura went to her first Witch hunt in her fourth timeline. But she wasn't going with the Witch as her primary target. She recognized the barrier, this crayon-scrabble landscape and unintelligible nonsense of the familiars. A bizarre visage of a little girl on vehicle floated down until it faced Homura, curiously examining the stranger with its nonexistent eyes. Homura spied a small yellow ball rolled to her feet and picked it up before throwing it far into the barrier. The familiar chased after it, quickly forgotten about the intruder.

She quickly pulled out a camera from inside her shield and took every single of those runes' picture before going after the Witch. A clown doll with blonde hair in pigtail. The girl she was before must be a pretty young child. Homura averted her eyes as she detonated her homemade bomb under the Witch's feet and watched as the barrier collapsed.

March the 19th 2011, Homura hid behind several barricades and police-lines as those cotton balls familiars passed over roses between them. Chanting in a high-pitched voice, she started to realized that those chants weren't nonsense at all. A German chant about presenting a beautiful banquet of roses to their queen. Homura then peered behind the thorns and squirming familiars to take picture of the rest of the runes. She was in luck, there were several non-rune graffiti written by this Witch's victim. Might be a clue, she had considered.

That evening, she compiled all of her catches. Two barriers, thirty two photos, one voice recording, all of those spread on her table. She looked on the graffiti first. After Mami's obsession to name her attack in Italian, Homura had since started to look up on other language that she might be able to use to name hers. She chose German in a spontaneous reflex when Madoka asked her about it without thinking.

She seemed to recognize the lines; a poem from how it looked like, but she couldn't name it. It was on the tip of her tongue. Finding those lines in the internet bore a result. Goethe's Faust, a story about deal with devil. Homura can't bite down the dripping sarcasm of 'how fitting,' from her mouth.

So at least she had the clue that the runes might be written in German, but there were still a chance that the letters might not be written in western alphabetic order. But she could try to make sense some of them. Six days until she enrolled the school, after that she might not have enough time to decipher the code.

If the runes were written in German, or in a small chance English, then she could use the numerical analysis to determine the individual letter. Most common letter in German and English was 'e' and she put the 'e' on the most frequently appeared letter in the photos, and she continued to put a letter based on how often a rune appear.

The result was… a nonsensical jumbled mess. There were several phrases that she could make out, but some of the runes were different from others and thus unintelligible. Not to mention that the phrasing of the words were quite awkward. Homura stared at two photos in her hands, specifically two runes that looked similar but different to each other. One rune, the one that she had identify as an 's', had three horizontally-lined comas while the other only had three horizontally-lined dots. Similar, but different. Homura had no other choice but to suspect that these runes had different fonts.

She cursed, determining one font was already hard enough, and now she had to determine God knows how many of them.

But then she at least sure that one kind of font won't be mixed with each other, so she made two hypothetical fonts based on the appearing runes. Fixing some of those awkward phrasing by changing the spacing and guessing any typo, she could finally made sense of those runes.

There was one stanza of Faust in the second Witch's barrier, while most of the runes were mantras that the Witches seemed to repeat in their madness. But the most important of them, she could now name the Witches along with their possible personality from what she had witnessed.

_Albertine, the Scribbling Witch. Ignorant in nature. She love the 'Hide and Go Seek' game, but her familiars are not very intelligent and none of them seek her out._

_Gertrud, the Rose Garden Witch. Distrustful in nature. She holds her roses dearer than anything else and expends all for their sake. Although stealing the life-forces of those who wander for her garden, she has an absolute hatred for the simple thought of them trampling inside._

Homura turned her head to see her clock. 5 AM in morning, which meant she had spent 21 hours without eat and sleep to decipher the runes. As she fell unconscious on her sofa, there was a thought crossed her mind as she stared at her ring, now she knew it bearing her name, before it died like a light switch.

'Worth it…'

**88888**

March the 25th 2011, Homura Akemi started enroll in Mitakihara Middle School. This time, there wasn't a single student badmouthed her as she kept her lips in a thin line and her eyes in a hard gaze. She wasn't weak anymore, and she won't let people walk all over her again. She then stared at her objective, that familiar pink-hair, but frowned at how Madoka slightly flinched under her gaze.

This Madoka was as kind as the Madoka she had remember from other timelines. She not yet contracted with that white fur ball since she had spent several days hunting for him along with two other Witches. As long as Madoka doesn't contract, then she can rest easy. Homura absent-mindedly acknowledged that black cat she had saved, whom might be sleeping in her house.

It pained her, but she had to keep her distance with anyone she had encountered in previous timelines. If they knew about the system, then they absolutely broke under the truth. They were unstable, especially Mami Tomoe, she couldn't let them destroy her work.

In her residence, Homura gathered everything she had and organized them into several folders. A bit troublesome to search information in it after she looked at it, she then thought about other way she could organized them. She could always buy some of those screens, but it might be very expensive. She still lived by herself, after all. Remember just how many thing Puellae Magi can do with their Soul Gem, the black-haired beauty made a very large reconstruction in her living room.

That western-styled room quickly turned into a four-walled aula, white and blank like hospital corridors. The image slightly shimmered as the illusion took form before hardened into something that she could touch. Kyouko might be slightly better in illusion because of her wish, but this is sufficient enough to go along with her objective. Creating about thirty screens that floated on the center, a giant pendulum that connected with the screen movement mechanism, and several colorful sponge sofas in circular position for her seating. Satisfied with her work, Homura rewrote the folder into the floating screens and put away the giant folder inside her shield.

There were still many screens that empty, but she could add those later. But remembering on how her power works, she predicted that she couldn't save Madoka in this timeline yet.

But it didn't mean that she could not do anything. She spent the entire March and April hunting Witches, writing any runes and the Witch's information into her database, hunting Kyubey, preventing Madoka's contract, annoying Mami with her standoffish attitude, and building up her arsenal.

Homura sat in her lonely blank space, staring at her collection, eternal inside the screen.

_Urhmann, the Canine Witch. Carving in nature. She had taken appearance of a dog in vain hope of being loved. Those who enter her domain can't help but to embrace her in concern. Those who hope to defeat her are by faking their love. _

_Elsa Maria, the Shadow Witch. Self-righteous in nature. She continues to pray for all and drag all into her shadow without breaking her posture. Only those who know the blackest anguish have chance to fall her._

_Roberta, the Birdcage Witch. Angry in nature. She stamps her feet inside the cage without stop, directing her rage into those who don't respond her call. Fond of alcohol and books, and her minions are easily burnt._

_Oktavia von Seckendorff, the Mermaid Witch. To fall in love in nature. Continues to dream of the guitar strings resounding in a concert hall, a last deep memory of the previous life. Repeat that time without notable differences, her wheels of fate move around calmly._

_Suleika, the Dark Witch. Delusional in nature. She gets stronger as darkness deepens. In complete bleakness, she's unmatched and unrivaled. But light is numerous nowadays, and her power isn't something to be feared._

_Ophelia, the Wudan Witch. Self-abandoning in nature. She who wanders aimlessly inside fog, leaving hollow footsteps in her wake. No longer has she remembered what the horse that accompanies her actually was._

_H.N. Elly (Kirsten), the Box Witch. Covetous in nature. A staunchly reclusive witch, she makes it her habit to lock away anything she covets behind the glass. Her prisoners' thoughts are laid bare, but those who don't think much can strike her without problem._

She had to become stronger. By understanding these girls' despair, she could understand suffering better, and by understanding suffering better, she would become stronger, by not falling into their despair and keep going with her mission and by learning their strengths and weaknesses. And if she was strong, then it was not impossible to survive the Walpurgisnacht along with everyone else.

She was sure of that…

**88888**

April the 30th, Walpurgisnacht, alliteration four, Homura Akemi lied dying in shallow water the Witch had destroyed the river from. Her power wasn't enough, and Mitakihara was destroyed. Mami Tomoe came to her aid and wordlessly fighting by her side. Seeing that the senior dying to save her, even though she had never met her in this timeline, opened Homura's eyes that she can't do this alone, that she didn't have to scorn other's help.

Explosion of light, pink light, came from the direction of the now in ruin Mitakihara. She didn't have to make sure, when that demented laughter stopped and suddenly the world engulfed in darkness, she turned her hourglass.

Waking up in the hospital room, Homura reorganized her memories behind her closed eye lids. Those two colossal Witches, and the runes she had seen.

Walpurgisnacht was not the Witch name. It was her title, the title of the most powerful Witch that comes to random places in the very date every year. This Witch had been a Walpurgisnacht for so long, that she couldn't see any other name in her being, that even she herself could not remember her own name.

_?, the Stage-constructing Witch. Helpless in nature. Symbolizing the fool who spins in circle without end. Her mystery had been passed down for generations of Puella Magi, and only known as Walpurgisnacht. Rotate aimlessly throughout the world, until the entire era turned into her drama stage. When her usual upside down stance has turn into upward position, the mark for her falling curtain and destruction of civilization she passed through reaches its climax with her gale wind flight._

'The fool who spins in circle without end', huh? That sounds familiar…

_Kriemhild Gretchen, the Salvation Witch. Merciful in nature. She absorbs any life into her heaven, her barrier. Only way to defeat her is to create the world where there is no misfortune. In that way, she will believe that she's already in heaven._

Even as a Witch, she still kind. That desire to help everyone…

Wait… Gretchen…? Just how many Faustian allusions existed in the magical girls' system?

Homura thought deep and long. If Madoka was 'Gretchen', then who was the 'Faust'? She wanted to think herself as the 'Faust', which was not too far-fetched when she considered her power. But then, if she failed, she might turn into a Witch that will destroy time itself to gain a single moment of happiness. She will stop the time in this world and make it frozen forever as she died.

The imagery was enough to frighten her. Made it a motivation to not fail.

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Alliteration nine, April the 7th, she had trained her confidence and tried to reintegrate herself into Madoka's life and it went along smoothly. Sayaka Miki had a better relationship with Kyouko Sakura after Mami ironed their first meeting. Even though Mami and Kyouko weren't exactly in friendly term after their past dispute, at least they civil to each other.

She widened her eyes when discovered that Mami got eaten once again and Sayaka's Soul Gem was lost inside the Dessert Witch barrier. They only had about a day and half before the connection between the body and the Soul Gem separated for good. Today search was nihil.

The time was almost up, she started to sweat a nervous sweat. Kyouko had not say anything and run on her own to search for the Soul Gem. She and Madoka had no idea where she had hid Sayaka's body, how she would find the barrier (might be in the next Pyotr familiar that turned into Charlotte), or what would she do when it was too late. Ophelia was a quite strong Witch, her fight wasn't exactly a pleasant experience and she would rather not fight against her again.

She and Madoka found Kyouko, who now frantic trying to find Sayaka that runs off when she fell unconscious. From what Homura could see Kyouko seemed to be much panicked over her condition. Was it that bad?

They found her, legs folded under her weight. Homura cringed at the damage. It seemed that Kyouko had no enough magic to preserve her body and fight the Witch at the same time, which resulted in the decomposition of her body went on without hindrance. Staring at the hanging flesh on Sayaka's face and the white puss that leaked in her eye socket, Homura added another event in her to-do list.

The timeline ended with another mercy kills; for Oktavia, Ophelia, and Gretchen.

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Alliteration twelve, Homura stared for the nth times at her collection, which had been grown larger every day. She sorted out the thing that messed with her attempt to save Madoka, no, everyone.

'Let's start with the most often occurred disaster in the timelines. Oktavia von Seckendorff. That girl is suicidal, no question, but if she doesn't make contract then Kyouko is very unlikely to join the fray of Walpurgisnacht, while she's the most trustworthy magical girl that I can count on. To gain her support, I have to make her pleased with her condition in this town. Kyouko's happiness depends on Sayaka's happiness. Sayaka's happiness depends on Kyousuke Kamijou's happiness, or so she thought. Kyousuke Kamijou's happiness depends on his recovery, which is no longer a problem if Sayaka makes her contract and if she doesn't, he would make a suicide attempt that will force her to do it anyway.'

Homura slammed her fists on her table.

'All because of him…'

As she tried to snuff the growing flame of hatred for that ignorant boy, she randomly grabbed on a paper in her Witch dictionary. What a coincidence that the paper she pulled in the one with Ophelia's information in it.

'Ophelia… of Hamlet. She who is remembered for her suicide driven by the death of her father and her emotionally abusive lover.' Homura tried to bite back a bitter chuckle, she really did, but she couldn't, 'She who had lost her hope and does not resist the dragging flows of water, ends up drowning in her guilt in her attempt to save her beloved.'

Homura quickly added, 'If only Sayaka Miki can see that…'

Homura took another one. Gertrud the Rose Garden Witch. Gertrud was the name of patron saint of gardeners and herbalists, travelers in search of lodging, and insane people. Presumably, she was a rose lover who was betrayed by a person, a man with mustache based on her familiars, which stayed in her house and made her fell over heel to him. She, by far, the most grotesque of the Witches she had encountered. Her despair might have something to do with beauty.

Charlotte the Dessert Witch, the name was from a dessert and another allusion of Goethe's Faust. She who was bane of Tomoe Mami's existence and had a preference to chomp on her head first. Presumably attacking the 'big sis' of the group because she was yellow, just like cheese. Charlotte the glutton, Charlotte the selfish, she who made her wish when she could save her mother, she who fell into despair because of her absolute ignorance and the fastest magical girl turned Witch that had exist. The only Witch she had to keep an eye on, for her despair was so great and her doubt created layered shells of the gluttonous creature she really was.

Everything is perfect, it should be perfect. She knew everything that she needed to destroy any Witch. She knew the weakness, their nature that she could exploit, their despair that she could learn from and avoid. But why…?

Homura slammed her fists again in frustration. Of all Witch, why only Walpurgisnacht that she could not defeat? Was that Witch actually immune to her weaponry; that her physical defense is so utterly high only magical attack in nature could harm her?

Homura walked in a circle, a habit that she developed along course of her time loops.

'If only I can gain their trust…'

An idea appeared in her head, so absolutely ridiculous that she almost laughed at the imagery.

Why the hell not? She almost drove herself insane with all these hopeless scenarios, one moment of OOC looked normal by comparison. Maybe it would be crazy enough to work.

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Alliteration thirteen, Homura awoke in her hospital bed with an extra thick dark cloud looming over her. Turned out unifying the group through the power of friendship and slice of life scenario wasn't exactly optimal when you didn't prepare yourself with the main event.

… Goddamit…

Maybe she should just kill the violinist next time around.

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Alliteration twenty one, April the 1st Homura Akemi found an anomaly. Unlike the mad prophet Oriko Mikuni and her lackey, this anomaly was a Witch. Not just a Witch, an alien Witch. A Witch from outer space, an evidence of the Incubators' action on other races in a place far away in the edge of the galaxy. The only thing that made this Witch successfully came to Earth was the fact that this Witch sought an utter extinction of magical girls and their contractors.

Determination that went beyond grave and hatred that transcend her despair; an emotion that so frightening, Homura wrote the entry with trembling hands. The fight was almost as bad as Walpurgisnacht's and she hoped that the Witch would never appear in the next timelines even more than Ophelia's

_Itzli, the Oblivion Witch. Vengeful in nature. A Witch who was said to be a magical girl from beyond the stars and lived at the end of the galaxy. Shown herself in order to destroy the trace of any magical girl in the universe and for it to be forgotten._

She was silent for some time, before sluggishly dragged her aching body to watch over Kyouko's arrival in Mitakihara and make sure she didn't kill Sayaka in their first encounter.

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Alliteration twenty four, April the 24th, she put Sayaka Miki out of her misery. The girl had reached the apex of her despair. She would do no good with her corrupted state of mind.

Or at least attempted to.

She reached for the Soul Gem, fully intended to destroy it. Until suddenly a chain spear warped around her like a serpent. Homura frowned at the hindrance, wordlessly releasing a small flash bang, already active and frozen in time, from behind her shield. Kyouko took a step back in surprise, she really didn't expect a grenade thrown to her face. The sudden light explosion made her cringed, a chance that Homura didn't waste as she dashed to the fallen girl, who could only widen her eyes in terror.

Homura reached for the Soul Gem, hand grasping like talon.

But she stopped on her track.

The Soul Gem wasn't there, only the golden casing remained. Homura stared at a small blue light that floated in front of her face, unconsciously tilted her head in curiosity. The orb flew to Sayaka's chest and went inside of it. The situation ended fairly peacefully, but the atmosphere only got heavier.

"What was that…?" Kyouko, still disoriented, asked. Homura knew exactly the answer.

"Sayaka Miki's contract had been canceled. Someone made a contract to null hers."

"What?"

A step, sound of a heel tapping the concrete echoed deafeningly in the empty hall. Homura dreaded the moment, but she kept on turning her head to face the pink frilly dress that she hated so much. Madoka, of course, she would make a contract for her best friend's happiness. Homura added the line into her ever growing list.

This Madoka though… she made the contract and yet, she had not achieved what she wanted. She thought that if she made contract, then it would make her at least a little more sure of herself. But seeing the transfer student tried to kill her friend, she hesitantly prepared an arrow to pierce that hand before she stopped on her own, then stared at her accusingly. Those eyes, cold and unforgiving, prying at her very being before settled on the small gem rested on the base of her neck.

Madoka felt that she made a greatest mistake that she would have make in her entire lifetime when Homura threw her head back and laughed a shrill laughter that sent a shiver down to her spine. That laugh didn't reach her eyes, which bled unstoppable waterfalls. Madoka could see the anger, the frustration, the murderous intent that had been bottled for a long time between those tears, and it frightened her.

"H-Homura-chan…?"

She didn't respond and continue to laugh.

"Homura-chan!"

She couldn't hold herself, Madoka run up to the laughing girl, wanted to say that everything would be alright now she became a magical girl. That she would share her pain and suffering, that she didn't have to be all gloomy anymore with all of them by her side.

The loud cracking sound, left after skin hitting against skin, echoed in the corridor where Uhrmann decided to settle.

Madoka stared blankly at the wall where her head was forced to face, hand slowly rubbing at the bright red hand print on her right cheek.

"What have you done?"

Madoka didn't understand why Homura spoke with such a distressed tone.

Until Homura's Soul Gem started to darken in an incredibly fast rate.

Homura's expression darkened in unison with the Soul Gem when she realized it and, after cursing Kyubey's name with so much hatred, did something to her Soul Gem that Madoka didn't comprehend. It, however, made her slumped forward to Madoka's arms, suddenly prone and unmoving. Kyouko staggered to the crying girl and felt Homura's neck. The pulse was still there, she just unconscious. Kyouko's gears moved in her head with agitation. Did she knock herself into a coma to prevent her Soul Gem from darkened? Just what would happen if the Soul Gem fully tainted?

Kyubey walked from behind shadows, stared at Homura's body with somewhat-like-but-not-exactly respect.

"Her determination and willpower are exceptionally strong, but how long she would hold on now?"

Kyouko growled and summoned her spear from her Soul Gem, its large head reared dangerously before the alien's muzzle.

"Just what the hell is going on with you and this chick?"

"Homura Akemi wants to prevent Madoka Kaname's contract because she knows what entails behind it."

"Homura-chan… is trying to save me?" Kyouko had her hypothesis after what she had witnessed, but she wanted to know more.

"And what the so called entail that you are talking about?"

"The balance between hope and despair that heavily congregated in the contract system of the Puella Magi, when in every hope the magical girls who made their oath feel bubbling up to the surface, the equal exchange of despair will fall on their life. The magical girl spread hopes, and while the Witches infect the world with despair. It's only natural that the magical girls will soon turn into Witches, true to the contract."

Madoka Kaname felt her world shattered into millions of pieces.

**88888**

Sayaka, who heard everything, only widen her eyes in disbelieve. Suddenly everything started to make sense, having your mind cleared also helped. She had saw Homura clenched her teeth when Mami made her veiled death threat after she hunted Kyubey down, how she always referred to the Witches with pronoun 'she', how she berated her for being a fool she was for falling into despair so fast after all of her bravado.

And as Sayaka stared at the crying Madoka hugging Homura's head close to her bosom and Kyouko that went apeshit on the furry white critter, she realized that she never felt the same heaviness of the guilt that right now swelling in her chest. She was forcing her long time best friend to fall into a death trap because she was not strong enough to deal with her own problem. She lashed at Madoka, forgot Mami's advice, rejected Kyouko's out-stretched hand, and Homura's standoffish help to the point of her trying to kill her so not to make Madoka suffered even further.

The group decided to bring Homura back to her home. Kyouko had talked about the Walpurgisnacht, and Homura's strategy to defeat the Witch, as she directed them to the European-styled residence with a single name on its plate. Sayaka who offered herself to carry Homura can only stared in awe at the interior. She shivered at the disturbing atmosphere she could only felt in the Witches' barriers. But said shiver only intensified when their gazes fell on the flickering ghost of a pigtailed girl wearing a pair of glasses who sat on the circling sponge sofa.

The ghost gestured at the seat, letting Sayaka to put the burden and them to take the seat. This Homura was different; melancholic and sad. Was it the real Homura, the Homura behind that icy mask and mysterious fog that she seemed to expel from her being? Sayaka was the first one that shattered the silence.

"Who are you?" seeing the ghost smiling kindly at the question was very disturbing when you accustomed with the ice queen persona.

"I'm Homura Akemi. Or… should I say, the part of her that she hates so much."

"Why?" Madoka asked behind her sobs.

"Because I'm weak, and she can't tolerate weakness. Especially if it was from herself."

"So you're saying that she hides you in a corner of her head so not to hinder her judgment."

"That's right, her mission leaves me no place to stay. But even though it's very cruel of her, I understand why she would do something like that. I've done nothing but to make everything even more difficult"

She threw them a sad smile, with eyes closed to prevent the tears from forming. Kyouko cupped her chin with her hand, striking a thinking pose.

"I only heard about split personality in magical girls when they in their 30, just how old are you anyway? I've been a magical girl for about two plus years, and I only just know the truth."

"I was lucky, or unlucky in this case, I guess. I found out about the truth back when I was just a fledgling, a month and half after I contracted. And no, it isn't a split personality. More into 'hiding behind the mask' and such." 'Homura' shrugged.

"Then how old is your contract?"

She stared at the ceiling, before glanced at Madoka with a mournful gaze.

"I'm, or should I say we're, in 46 days times twenty three of our contract. There's no way to count it other than that"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Because we've been repeating the same month for twenty three times, in wake of our wish."

**88888**

"Try to imagine it this way; Homura Akemi walks in to the class like the one you knew. But instead the cold Akemi-san, you have me, the sickly and shy girl sheltered for years in hospital, introducing herself with her shaky knees. That's the circumstance of the first timeline. That was the time before I made my wish."

"Back off, back off…" Kyouko rubbed the bridge of her nose, "You're saying that your wish give you a time travel power thing?"

"I just want to elaborate that matter. So you see, it isn't surprising that everyone was bullying my incompetence. Everyone… except for you Madoka."

Madoka looked up to the ghost.

"Your kindness knows no bound, and you get along well even with me. You saved me from a Witch, you and Mami-san, and gave a company that I lack for who-knows-how-long. I was so happy, I finally have a friend. And then Walpurgisnacht came. Devastating everything, killing hundreds, Mitakihara was in ruin. As the magical girls of this turf, you and Mami-san died fighting to save it."

'Homura' rubbed the back of her left hand, where her Soul Gem should be. The floating screen flashed with memories, every single one of them are more terrible then the previous clip shown. Madoka stared at her own Witch, a giant mountain that swallowed the world into a gigantic brainwashed planet, Mami turned into Witch, Candeloro, and forced her to kill her beloved mentor, Homura dragged her slashed clean torso from a brain-like Witch's attack to her lower half, reattaching herself with magic and thick threads for three days straight. Madoka covered her eyes in horror.

"I was a fool back then, I made my wish to repeat the time of our meeting so I'll be the one that protect, not someone who should be protected. And I got it; the wish is too well for my own good. I became someone who protect, but I'm not strong enough so everyone I swore to protect always ended up dead. Until in the fourth loop, she got fed up of me and started to push me to the back of her head before outright dumping me in this place. So she can defeat Walpurgisnacht and you saved from your fate, she had to abandon herself."

Sayaka slammed her fists to the table, entire body shook in horror and disgust.

"There's must be something that we can do."

"There's nothing. Madoka had made her contract, and as long as she made contract, the fate of becoming a Witch will always remain. It's our wish to make sure you are saved. When she wakes, she will surely turn the hourglass and start everything anew. We have to, or we no longer have purpose anymore and automatically turn Witch in our despair." Sayaka wilted in instant, the silently cried with her pink haired friend.

"Just what happen to her back then?" Kyouko asked in a quiet voice like she didn't want to disturb the pair.

"The one that made herself fainted? It's just the more advance form of cutting connection with your Soul Gem, but instead the connection to the nerves that feel pain, it more to her consciousness. She can't let herself fall to despair, so she let her mind died temporarily to calm herself."

**88888**

Homura opened her eyes, only to stare at her endless white ceiling. She frowned; it seemed that she had not turned her hourglass yet. She forgot what exactly happen after Madoka came to her with those horrid pink frills.

Still lied down of her sofa, she transformed, silver buckler strapped on her left arm.

"Please don't."

Homura turned her head, and looked back at the three pair of eyes that now gazed at her with different intensity. She then lifted her face slightly to glance at the ghost of her old self with distain.

"You told them." The ghost nodded. Homura said nothing to her.

"Now you know…"

"I… I have no idea… that it will turn out like this."

Madoka sobbed. Homura stared at the girl; her eyes were already red and swollen, just how long she had cried? She walked up to the crying girl and gave her a hug, a firm hug she might add.

"Why, Homura-chan…? Why you would do something like this? Why you let yourself suffer over me?" Homura's answer was firm.

"Because you're my friend, the only one that I can call my best and dearest, and I love you. I owe you my life, I treasure your friendship, and I don't want to see you dying over something like being deceived by extraterrestrial creatures. I promise you to save you, and no matter how many time it will take… I will definitely save you."

The screens on the ceiling flickered and showed a scene. Homura and Madoka lying in Mitakihara's ruin, victorious but dying. Oktavia's Grief Seed pressed to the purple Soul Gem, the Homura in-screen screamed the same phrase with her hoarse and wounded vocal.

I will definitely save you… all of you…

The hourglass flipped.

.

.

.

.

.

Alliteration thirty seven, March the 29th, Homura sniffed out the air like a predator caught a smell of its prey. After her twenty-sixth loop, she gained an ability to detect the Witches without following her Soul Gem's tracking attribute by simply perceived the heaviness of their barrier on the sky of Mitakihara. This gluttonous desire, no mistake, it was the Dessert Witch. In the same place, hospital northern wall, and in a moment that slightly faster than the usual. Homura cursed, she just found out that she had another power besides stopping time, and now she was drained of her power by its single use.

A pair of giant white wings retracted to her back. Her surroundings were nothing but dust. Her time power in reality wasn't limited to her time stop and time travel, but also speeding up and slowing, whether it was her allies, enemies, or herself. And the strongest power manifested into those wings, which would turn black and distorted when she activated the effect. Speeding up the time of everything that her wings engulfed in a frightening scale, she made those who unlucky enough to be caught inside her barrier literally rot and crumble. Homura stared at bleached bones of a previously mangy mutt, who spent the last 7 seconds howling in agony as its flesh fallen off from its skeleton and being eaten alive by maggots that suddenly appeared.

She was too drained; she couldn't use her magic to accelerate herself or even just to propel her jumps on the roof. She won't make it to the place before Mami came and got herself killed with her already suspected recklessness from the euphoria of Madoka's friendship and kindness. That technique was dangerous and too risky to use, Homura swore to never use it again unless she no longer had anything else to bet.

She wasn't strong enough, and Mami might die because of that. Mami didn't know about Charlotte's safety pins, Mami didn't know about the Witch's multiple bodies, Mami didn't know that if she restraint her now, she would absolutely bite the dust.

Mami didn't know, and the knowledge of that she knew about it but couldn't say made Homura even more frustrated.

Why don't you listen? Why you make me your enemy? Why you always make more difficult of my problems?

**88888**

She survived; Mami Tomoe survived, though the witnesses didn't realize it. Why she saved her, she didn't know. After all these death and despair, Homura started to feel numb inside. 'It's okay, there's always next time,' she would think that way. Her failure started to feel ordinary, she felt used with the fact that she was an utter failure, that their death meant nothing for her because she could always turn the hourglass. Even Madoka's death no longer meant that much either.

But her body reacted on its own, untangled herself from that chained ribbons, tackled the upperclasswoman from the gapping mouth of the Dessert Witch, and hid her inside her shield to prevent her further breakdown. Unorthodox, yes; but it got the job done.

She walked away from the hospital, nonchalant words left behind a bitter taste that she grew accustom of but couldn't kill. Well, she had to keep an appearance, right? That; or she would have more problems with Madoka's contract. A little shock of the real risk of magical girls' work would straighten the girl up. No matter what she said to or what people thought about the pink-haired girl, Madoka was not stupid. Naïve, yes, but never stupid. Though… she couldn't say the same to the little mermaid.

**88888**

April the 3rd, that foolish girl made a contract. That was expected. Standing on the top of Elly's remains, giving her childhood friend a twirl of her cape, Homura could only sighed in defeat over the hard-headed girl before leaving the scene without revealing herself.

In her domain, Mami made her a cup of warm black tea. Raising her own cup to her lips, Mami said the obvious.

"So Miki-san made her contract?"

"Yes."

"She only made it because she thought I'm dead, right? Then, why don't you just tell her that you saved me? If she really such a burden when she becomes a magical girl…"

"No, even though you aren't dead, she will still make her contract. She still naïve, and there's nothing that can stop her to make her contract, especially when her crush is involved."

"I see… she really makes a selfless wish." Homura snorted in discontent.

"There's no such thing as selfless wish, Mami Tomoe. We made our wish, because the wish will have benefit to us, even though it's not directly. She just too stubborn to see it yet, and project herself as a selfless martyr that she saw in you."

"And you worry about the revelation later on will do to her?"

"Pretty much."

Mami nodded, sipping her tea slowly and sighed.

"I still think it's better for me to show myself in front of everyone. If what you say is true, than I can restraint Sakura-san in her debut."

"… Fine, but until that time, then you should not."

**88888**

April the 7th, Sayaka Miki went to her hunting and came across one of Albertine's stray familiar. Everything went along the script; Kyouko stopped Sayaka from killing the familiar, Sayaka attacked Kyouko, Kyouko countered said attack and intended to destroy the blue haired girl's life.

Until the familiar blonde twin drill and ebony tresses put themselves between the opposing sides.

"M-Mami-san…?"

"… I expect more from you, Miki-san."

"Well… what a surprising turnabout. Really don't expect you to be alive after Kyubey said you got ahead of yourself, Mami." Kyouko let her fang peeked out of her mouth.

"Now, now, that's very cruel of you, Sakura-san. I still have to thank Akemi-san here for knocking some sense to me."

"Yeah… sorry, drill bit, but I'm not here for chit chat."

Kyouko reared back her spearhead, but stopped middle way through the swing when a cold steel of Beretta's muzzle pressed to the back of her head. She blinked in confusion; she just saw the mystery girl beside Mami few seconds ago. Knowing she got herself stuck in the position, she dismissed her weapon, confident that the girl won't make a hole in her head if she still just threatening her while had a chance to do the deed before she realized it. The dark magical girl smirked at the gesture.

"So, you wanna talk? Then, talk. You think you still have use of me, don't you?"

"Indeed, killing you would give me nothing other than loss of firepower I need. I propose you an agreement, Kyouko Sakura. You will help me defeat an adversary that I've hunt for several years, in exchange of Mitakihara's northern territory."

"Wha-" Sayaka widened her eyes. How could she just say something like that to a rogue! But Mami put her hand in front of her when she wanted to lash at the transfer student. Sayaka reluctantly put down her sword when the blonde senior smiled at her.

"Miki-san, let Akemi-san talk. She the one who know the most of all of us."

Kyouko could only let out a bitter laugh.

"And what make you think that I want to do that?"

"I know you will. In the end of the month, April the 30th until Mei the 1st, Walpurgisnacht will come to this town in the celebration of the Witches' gathering." Kyouko sputtered in surprise. Homura let a smile slipped unnoticed, she got her, "And I believe you had heard about what will happen when Walpurgisnacht comes to a town, no? I'm sure you still have something in this town that you treasure, right, Kyouko Sakura?"

The redhead was in conflict before finally relented.

**88888**

"Let me get this straight, so the transfer student was actually saving you by putting you inside her infinite space, that's why there's no body left behind when the Witch seemingly killed you."

"Pretty much." Sayaka turned to Homura, flabbergasted with the black-haired girl's actions.

"Why…? Why you don't say so?"

"Because I need to give you a scare about what entails in the magical girl business. You," She gestured both Sayaka and Madoka, "Both of you are no good to be magical girls. For different reasons of course." Homura flipped her long tresses, her hand got shaky.

"And of course, I really expect you to not heed my warning."

"You seem to know a lot about us." Kyouko said after cramping an entire taiyaki in her mouth, "Just who are you actually?"

Homura told them everything.

April the 8th, Homura finally gained her army's trust. It was a step up, to say the least.


	2. Kyubey

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Please stay a little longer; it will take awhile for me to see another of such beauty._

**88888**

Incubator, that's the name we are known. As the incubators who nurse the eggs so they could hatch into healthy organism, that's our job to see through the very end of the cycle of our hatchery. We had traveled across the galaxy known by the Earth civilizations as the Milky Way, finding a suitable 'generator' for the anti-entropy. Our goal is noble, and some of the Earthlings agree. But many don't understand why such sacrifice is necessary.

We, who are known as Incubators, are emotionless. But it wasn't by birth we become this way. Millions of years of Earth's calendar calculation evolving, we had found out that emotion could only hinder our objective, endanger our survival. So we were trained since birth to suppress it, conditioning ourselves with physical medium and appearances that destroy any chance of any form of emotion from surfacing. Until one day, our kind can no longer feel anything and our comprehension never reach something that the Earthlings seem to revere.

It doesn't mean the method is perfect. There's always one in many who has been tainted with this illness. Many of them claim that rejecting our emotion means we are reach our stagnant era, or worse; regressing. Such silly declaration, as we are fine with how we are.

We are logical. Only hard, cold logic matters to us. Only the truth that is important. Driven by our goal, we strive to reach the absolute safety of universe. The sacrifice would not be in vain. Mind you that we are sacrificing as many as the Earth's inhabitants, arguments that saying the otherwise are null.

I came to this virgin land in the period of steel; where brass and metal had just being invented. I heard about my kinds' stories of this land. Primitive, slow, and savage; there's only difficulty came from planet. But we are not going to let this land go. Because no matter how hard the soil is to be cultivated, the energy expelled from the Witches' transformation of this planet is so large, larger than what we had seen in other galaxy. And so, we stay.

With our help, the Earth's civilizations blossomed like flowers in spring. They grow even faster after one discovery to another. Their thirst for knowledge is very admirable; but along with their library collection, their greed swells. Emotion can only bring hindrance, and the nations were warring because of their greed. But I have to say that it only helped our struggle, as between despair we can always spread hope in the candidates' hearts. And it always repeats the same cycles; a girl wishes for a discovery, people fight over it, and a girl wishes to stop the fight. All while we stand in background, busy harvesting the energy output from the despair of those who fallen in between the long stairs of humanity's journey.

I stand on the highest skyscraper in a town named Mitakihara, sixty five years and six months since the last Great War. The energy income has become slightly sluggish with the somewhat peaceful era, with the Witches become scarce to find. No matter, there's always a way to provoke a reaction. My target right now is a girl named Madoka Kaname. I found it very… strange that I've never realized her presence before, when her potential shines like the brightest star out there.

A girl with ordinary origin and ordinary bloodline, and yet… her karma is not unlike the one that is burdened by the saints and saviors. A girl that desperately trying to find her purpose in this world, and has desire to do anything good with everything she does. She believes that everyone and everything can be salvaged, can be saved as long as she tried.

Naïve and childish, that's what any Puella Magi older than three years old will say, and I have to agree with them, there's no way we can save anyone and everything without sacrifice. A very large one at that.

But larger the sacrifice, the better. I can't imagine the power born from her Soul Gem, the Witch that would be born from her despair. It's not impossible; Walpurgisnacht will come to this town, and she will have a reason to make contract. If she isn't finding it yet.

But my attempts are thwarted by one Homura Akemi.

She's an enigma. I have no recollection of her contract while hers are definitely mine, when she made it, and what is her wish. An one thing that clear about her, that she is trying to prevent Madoka Kaname's contract and seems to know the circumstance of the contract. I have hypothesis about her of course, but there's no way to prove it until she really blatantly using her power.

I'm standing on the tallest of skyscraper in the town, admiring the beauty of this scenery. All that glitter, colorful lights turning on and off in a rhythmic tempo and sprouting water fountains as tall as four-stories building give a very peaceful nuance to this silence.

What? So you think just because of we're emotionless, we can't appreciate the beauty of this universe?

Know this, dear stranger. Appreciation of art is not an emotion. It's a truth; it's a part of our instinct to say, for example, that we prefer to live near something that is clean and beautiful instead of a pollution crater. We like something that is beautiful, because it gives us a sense of security, that it makes us feel save near of such thing. Even though there are organisms that warn their enemies with their bright coloration, the general consensus says that those whose judgment clouded by emotion are the only one who fallen to that kind of trap. Our instinct is the one which determines what is beautiful, and emotion is the thing that distorts your perception of said beauty.

Take those love songs as an example. We know just how much songs affect the life of many. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, heavy passion hidden behind every note that even the ordinaries can understand the very soul of the composer. But just how deep the teenage generation of mankind has fallen when they only can appreciate songs with repetitive beat and lyrics that only contain desire of intercourse? They throw word "love" like it has no significance while they seemingly kiss the very ground that emotion, if it has a physical form, walks on. These contradictions are the thing that we can never comprehend. It's so confusing, why it has to be this way?

But our job as Incubator demands us to understand at least the significant part of it; that humanity reveres emotion. That the fact alone is the only thing that we have to concentrate on. That every despairing maiden is our only directive.

I do believe… that each of my girls is special in their own way. They are not expendable, no, of course not. They are my precious eggs, each beautiful on their own way.

Mami Tomoe, she might be my most loyal. But after that Dessert Witch incident, her loyalty starts to shift to the irregular Homura Akemi. Life debt, I can understand that… but more I see her with the irregular, more I think that she just wants a companion. That crushing loneliness and guilt over her selfishness, hidden behind an ever-present smile and warm-hearted façade. Warm like a fireplace at the time of winter, opening presents from the beloveds in such a joyous moment. Only for said beloved stolen by her own desire to save her own skin.

Mami Tomoe is beautiful. If you just look pass her very… generous foreign blood, you can see a girl that wants nothing more that someone who she could call 'family', and that makes her beautiful.

Wild and destructive like a forest fire, yet warm and gentle if tamed; an appropriate metaphor for one Kyouko Sakura. But once a fire is always a fire, after everything that she fights for shattered because of her own wish, she only goes for the perk of being a magical girl. Only goes along with life; never resist, only live a life without purpose. But when there's something that could pick out the small diamond in between molten iron, you will discover that diamond is worth more than the search will ever be. As long as they patient and fast enough to search for the diamond before it gets dragged by the stream and drowns.

She's a difficult girl with difficult circumstance. Even though deep down she tries for what is best, she does more harm when she does good deeds. There's no magical girl that can't be broken, and her despair… is strong.

And yet, even with their not so civil break up, Homura Akemi has united them under her wings.

She's quite an adversary.

**88888**

I finally witnessed the firsthand of Homura Akemi's power yesterday. The Oblivion Witch came to this town, and from what I saw, she had met the Witch before, which is impossible when you knowing that Itzli is a Walpurgisnacht, and Walpurgisnacht's arrival is rarely predetermined. Plus the fact that Itzli is an alien Walpurgisnacht, the chance that Homura Akemi had encountered the same Witch is very unlikely unless… she had seen this event in the past.

To think that she's a time traveler… but the hypothesis becomes the truth when she activated her power's strongest form, after the Witch knocked every single of her comrades, and literally rotted the Witch until there's nothing left other than a Grief Seed. The power to control time itself, but the power is not controllable even by its wielder, quickly turns into a double-edged sword. Homura Akemi had dragged her comrades out of the barrier first before reengaging the Witch, fully aware of her limitation. The power also almost instantly tires her, and she almost could not escape from the collapsing barrier.

This is interesting. Pushing herself pass her limit has knocked her unconscious, but before finally letting herself to a recuperating slumber, she had warned the other girls to watch over Madoka Kaname. Having said about the truth of the cycle of the Puellae Magi's system, the girls are agreeing to prevent the contract, to prevent another from receiving their fate. It's a problematic, indeed, but I'm not exactly worry about it.

Why? Because in every family there's always a problem child.

Sayaka Miki is standing in front of me right now. Her eyes flicker with an illusion of deviance, mind swirling with questions. She might believe the story of Homura Akemi, but it doesn't mean that she will just accept it.

"Kyubey…"

"Is there anything that I could help you with, Sayaka Miki?"

"After seeing just what kind of thing you made us go through, not really. But I'm hearing what you can say about it."

"… Go on…"

"Why you aren't saying anything about magical girls will turn into Witches?"

I answer that question just like how I answered that question to many others before her.

"Because you didn't ask."

She's bristling, her Soul Gem is getting darker as she grows even more angry.

But she turned and walked away from me.

That's not like how I expect it. She has a better self-control that I predicted. Maybe having someone to watch over her growth as an individual has bearing a result. Her transformation into Witch might be slightly delayed because of this.

Or maybe not.

Sayaka Miki, I only have to push her over, and everyone of them will soon follow. Their 'friendship' will to the rest.

**88888**

I remember when Homura Akemi first walked into that classroom. How she carried herself, how her aura that was so mysterious attracted curiosity like moth to flame, how her slender frame swayed with each step. I do not blame the male population of the class for wanting to mate with her; she's a healthy breeding stock alright. Her slightly grayish skin tone might be a turn off, but you cannot expect everything is completely perfect in this world.

She opposes us, she opposes our directive. All because we are making someone who she considers a friend a sacrifice that is so noble it could spare the universe from death. And she will do anything to prevent it, even if she has to damn the universe.

But even with those obstacles surrounding her very being, I must be lying if I say that she is not beautiful. In fact, she's the most beautiful of them all.

And there's nothing more beautiful than a Witch born from the most beautiful magical girl.

I can imagine that; the explosion of energy that surpasses the entropy. The accumulating despairs from countless of timelines. Finally her dam breaks and nothing can stop it.

When she finally awakes, there's only 11 days left until the Walpurgisnacht.

And when she calls for her personal underlings, there's someone who isn't present.

"Where's Sayaka Miki?" she growled from inside her throat.

Said girl is hiding behind a tree, listening to a conversation.

Slowly, she crept. Sword rising over her head, eyes blinded with tears.

She swung the sword down.

Sound of metal hitting metal echoes on the park, surprising the occupants of the bench.

Homura pushed down by the sheer force of the swing, fell back on the bench, crushing it. Kyousuke Kamijou and Hitomi Shizuki stared wide-eyed at the display, but especially to the armed girl that slowly advanced to them. Kyousuke is not exactly sure, but he could almost see music notes, Ave Maria music notes, swirling in her irises. Golden ribbons appeared and tangled her limbs, twisting them behind her body. Sayaka Miki was disabled and the situation became clear before anyone has a chance to speak.

Homura stood from the ruined bench and dusted her attire. She glared at the crying Puella with distain. The bystanders sputtered their disbelief.

"Kyouko."

The redhead walked to the scene in leisure, narrowing her eyes at the squirming cocoon of ribbons, before grabbing at the bystanders and stared deeply into their eyes. Almost immediately, they went limp in her arms. Kyouko snorted at this.

"Freakin' weak-willed sods…"

Either that, or her ability is not rusting yet.

I'm following them to their hide-out. Homura Akemi cut Sayaka Miki's connection to the Soul Gem, leaving the body an empty husk, but preventing the further decay of the Soul Gem. Just how many she knows of, I really curious about it. It's been awhile since the last time magical girls made a very organized sentai and tried to tamper with the system, and I'm sure that Homura Akemi is more well-informed and well-prepared than the Pleiades Saints, or any others. Pressing the Dark Witch's Grief Seed to the horribly tainted Soul Gem, she sighed at the two other magical girls.

"What happen with her?"

The two shared a glance guiltily. Kyouko's rubbing the back of her head as she mumbled almost unintelligible.

"Sorry, Princess… she kinda runs off on her own. And… I think I rubbed her wrong way."

"Familiar farming?"

"Yeah…"

"But that isn't the only thing, though…" Mami rubbed her chin, "She refuses to hunt and patrol for several days lately. No one can get through her, or know just what is in her mind. Like… she just shut down."

"… I see…"

She gave the Soul Gem back to the owner, resulting of some noises of protest from the other two. Why would she do that if it's better to keep Sayaka Miki immobile for awhile? She risks their mission's, to destroy Walpurgisnacht, safety and their team stabilization, by resurrecting the most unstable of them. If Homura Akemi knows about what kind of events that will happen, she would just kill Sayaka Miki. Why?

"You two… can take a break."

"Now wait the second-"

"I'll talk with her, Kyouko."

Any further protests are silenced immediately. They reluctantly left the barrier and went on with their own business, and she didn't say the next sentence before she's sure that they are out of the earshot.

"Kyubey."

"Impressive, Homura Akemi. You become more and more like a Witch every time we cross path."

"There's no difference between us, either way. Besides, I can smell that stench of yours from afar because I trained it to be so, no need to draw such an unnecessary parallel when you are not exactly sure nor know about it."

"True. Though, several of you method is questionable at best. If Sayaka Miki is being such a hindrance to you, why would you go through a great length to save her?"

She snorted at the question. Her eyes tell me that she's playing with me.

"Curious?"

"… A little."

"See, it's not so bad to admit that you also have a form of the so-called mortal's flaw."

I sighed. She's really persistent about this problem.

"Mind you, Homura Akemi, that curiosity is a sign of intelligence, not emotion. My curiosity is for the greater good; for knowing just what are you scheming against us. Against our mission."

"Tch, it's not about your mission that I scheme against. You should have known about that."

"Madoka Kaname's contract is necessary..."

"… only to fulfill your quota. You will let this planet die after that."

"We are not yet know about that."

"You don't know, but I do. In fact…"

Her lips are spreading so wide and her teeth, canines to be exact, are visible, that make every single of my being screaming at me to run, and I suddenly think that I just made a mistake somehow. Physical mutations on magical girls are only start to appear when magical girl in question is so absorbed in their life as magical girl, adapting with their full-of-fighting life by making every single part of their being into weapon, literally armed to teeth and cannot be considered human anymore. I never see anything like this since the Amazoness and the Gorgon sisters.

"How about we're experimenting with it a little? I make a research about it too."

"What are you thinking?"

"If in my fifth try, Kriemhild Gretchen can swallow the Earth in 9 days because of the accumulating karma of all timelines where I failed, then I wonder what will happen to this timeline if she turns Witch. There might be no more world to be saved from entropy anymore, am I right, Incubator?"

My mind stopped in its track. If she puts it in that way, then it's very likely for the Witch born from Madoka Kaname to be a universe-sized. Energy can't be destroyed, only change form and place. If Homura Akemi abandons a timeline, the karma and energy explosion released from the contract and Witch transformation will follow her as she's the one who make the timeline in the first place. And just how many timelines she has go through, if the fifth repetition engulfs the Earth in 9 days, and each timeline has a possibility to become worse than the last, to the point where she sure and confident that what I will do will instead destroy the universe?

If I push Madoka Kaname to make contract, then there's no saying about what will happen next. Her potential is so great, the law of equal exchange might be null for her, or she could even violates and rewrites it altogether. She's right; there might be no more world to be saved.

Homura Akemi is staring at me, still with that wide smile as she caressed her Soul Gem. I know, she goads me to make mistake. She would rather save Madoka Kaname if she can, but doesn't mean that she couldn't damn this timeline just to spite me.

She's insane, even more so than the other humans.

Sayaka Miki groaned as she regained consciousness.

She gestured me to leave, and so I hide. She frowned at this; I guess her claim that she could smell me is not nonsense at all, but she said nothing about it because Sayaka Miki's soul connection has returned completely.

"Wha… what happened?"

"You attacked Kyousuke Kamijou and Hitomi Shizuki and almost turned Witch."

Sayaka Miki said nothing, but from how fast the taint corrupting her Soul Gem, she felt a strong negative emotion clouding over her again. Homura clicked her tongue in disapproval and fished the Soul Gem from Sayaka's hands. Holding it inside her hand like she's holding a hostage.

"Eleven days until Walpurgisnacht, and you got yourself into this… problem. I trusted you to do just fine without me, with Kyouko and Mami to guide you over. Just what happened to you?"

"I attacked Kyousuke…"

"Almost. But don't worry, Kyouko erased their memory about the incident. They won't remember anything about."

"But I sti-"

"Do you still have the desire to do it again?"

"…No…"

Homura then held up the Soul Gem so Sayaka could take it back. The taint stopped spreading.

"That means the purification is a success."

"…I'm a burden, am I not?" Sayaka said from out-of-nowhere, but the one who had been asked didn't surprised by the question. Her answer was blunt and honest.

"Yes, and I hate you because of it. But think nothing about it, I hate myself when I'm still a rookie."

No one spoken for approximately 37 seconds before Homura, like Sayaka, asked from out of nowhere.

"Do you ever wonder why our Soul Gems are still darkening even when we never use our power? Maybe at the much slower rate, but still darkening."

"…Because the mere existence of us is a sin? The fact that we're alive is a sin like how we use our magic?"

"Kyouko rubs on you more than you and I think." She chuckled softly, "Yes, I used to think that way too. I used to think that we are supposed to wield this kind of power, that making our contract is like violating with our nature. But then, I remember that the Incubators themselves are not sure about how our power work, or how the contract is actually affecting us. So, I start to think that maybe they even don't understand how the contract actually work, and just get on with it because it provides them the energy they need."

"How is that even possible?"

"Try to imagine we, the magical girls, are like a vehicle. Our body as the mechanism and our soul as its fuel. Then, our Witch transformation will not make any sense to said analogy because between magical girls and Witches, there aren't many differences other than the single-minded obsession to our despair. Even when you try to explain that we turn Witch is the same like replace the fuel to another vehicle because of said reason. Where do you think the analogy is lacking?"

"That… we have no control over ourselves when we turn Witch. That, when we turn Witch, we're losing our steering wheel; our mind."

"Precisely."

"Why it has something to do with anything?"

"We grow up, Sayaka. As we grow up, our wide-eyed childhood will be replaced by the truth of this world. That knight in shining armor is only exist in fairytales and the real knights can really just be arrogant bullies, that our dedication will bear us no reward nor recognition, that we can't save anyone and anything without risking anything other than ourselves. As we see more of this world, we realize that there are many things that aren't according to our fantasy, and our mind is tainted by it. Suspicion, jealousy, bitterness, anything that give birth to the Witches."

"But both our soul and our mind are abstract concepts; they're intangible and unproven by senses. When the Incubators extracted us of our Soul Gem, they didn't realize that they aren't simply extracted our soul, but also our mind, into something that they call 'Soul Gems'. It's not our soul that becomes tainted when we feel, but for them, there's no difference. But that's okay, they won't understand it anyway."

"There's no life where there's no pain. We are fated to turn into Witches because we can't life without pain and sadness. It's our choice to succumb or prevail, think this as an extreme form of survival in places where the community is individual oriented, like America perhaps. So in truth is, our life is not that different, even though our body turns into zombie or whatever you have a problem of. It's just our perception. It's okay to make mistake, because we humans are flawed." Homura Akemi stared hard to Sayaka's eyes.

"Do you want to atone all of your mistakes?"

"Yes, but how? I said hurtful things to Madoka, to Mami-san, to Kyouko, to you… how I can atone to that?"

"All start with one small word, Sayaka."

They shared a smile.

I know… that she deliberately say those things because she knows I was there, that she knows I hear her just fine as she berates us, as she compares us to mere animals that only just gained their sentience. But still to think about it, she's right. Everything that she said is right. And suddenly I see something that I've never seen before. I understand something that I've never try to comprehend before.

Humans, and all their flaws, are beautiful.


	3. Sayaka Miki

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Never has she felt so weak, so ignorant before. _

**88888**

Two teenagers sat on the roof, their favorite hangout. For several days they had not doing this like they usually before; they even went to school separately. She just realized it, that she pushed her best friend too far that Madoka hesitated to say anything to her. Kyouko's ward worked like a charm; neither Kyousuke and Hitomi remembered what happened yesterday. But it still plagued her mind, haunting her every time she closed her eyelids. She had fallen too far, and it was no one's fault but hers.

Other girls were so strong. Mami-san who was left alone by her family and was haunted by guilt for not saving them, Kyouko that saw her family and her ideal destroyed by something that she thought will save them from suffering, Homura who went through the nightmarish repetition for God knows how long. They were the real heroes. When standing beside them, she felt so small, so insignificant. And yet, she was the most pretentious of them all. They never really despair over their grief, and survive for years. Just how long was she as a magical girl? A week? Two? It didn't matter, the fact was still stand.

That she was weak. She didn't even have the courage to say sorry to her best friend, who always there beside her through thick and thin with reassuring hugs and words. Whose affection she had taken for granted. Selfish, she was no one's martyr, never considered what will happen to Madoka, to Kyouko, Mami-san, and Homura.

To Mitakihara…

Ten days before the Walpurgisnacht and she almost got herself killed over something that is so unimportant compared to the end of the world.

Pathetic.

Homura had reassured her, in her own way, Madoka would definitely forgive her. She was just that kind. But she didn't think that she could even forgive herself.

"Ne, Sayaka-chan?"

She was like how she had remembered when they first met. Small, cute, with those pigtails of hers. Seven years, and she never changed. How easy for that seven years to be broken. Sayaka gave her a half-hearted smile as a sign that she acknowledged her call.

"Yeah…?"

"Are you alright?"

"Don't think so, Madoka… I've done some really bad things."

"Everything's going to be alright. I'm sure that we can get through this."

"… Maybe not me."

"Don't say that."

"Look at me, Madoka. Am I scary to you? When I fought that black Witch, do I scare you? You scared of me, right?"

"You're not."

Sayaka was taken back. She was expecting the pink-haired girl to flinch at the question, for her voice to tremble when she gave an obviously spoken lie. All she got is a firm, full of authority statement. In Madoka's eyes, there was a stern glare.

"In my dreams, I saw Homura-chan and Kyouko-chan trying to kill you. They made a same face like the one you made, and I never been scared more. Then… when I see them again making that face in a Witch fight, I'm not scared. So I realized that I was scared not because of them, but because I fear for your safety."

Madoka stared up to those baby blue eyes with a heart melting smile.

"I can never fear my friends. And you're my friend, Sayaka-chan."

Sayaka's breath hitched in her throat. The rest of the lunch break spent with the magical girl crying profusely on Madoka shoulder, uttering sorry like her life was depended on it.

She was such a failure of a friend.

**88888**

With a renewed determination, the Ally of Justice stepped inside the barrier. If she wanted to atone what she had done, first she had to do her job correctly. Four magical girls in one town might be a bit clustered, but there were places where the others not patrolled in with their own reasons. Mami had warned her about her Soul Gem and gave her a Grief Seed to cleanse it. She could not always ask for help and let others to spoon-feed her; she had to survive on her own.

The barrier was familiar for her. It was that really ugly Witch that Mami fought the first time she and Madoka see how magical girls work. The cotton ball familiars noticed her presence and came at her brandishing their scissors. Steeling her nerve, Sayaka transformed. Her hand clenched the air, feeling her sword hilt in her palm materialized.

Except she wasn't.

There was no sword, that familiar blue grip with golden curls of a cross guard and a double edged blade.

Then Sayaka realized that she was in danger.

Grabbing a nearest thing she could hold on as a weapon, she swung a lamp post at several familiars to fend them off. Three were sent flying, but many took their place. This situation was really bad, can she get them all off when she retreated? She had just walked for a small distance before being attacked, so the exit should not far from her position.

She almost made a dash to escape when the other familiar, a multi-colored and slightly transparent… thing, let out high pitch bell rings, effectively warned the entire barrier inhabitants.

"Just how it so quickly turns worse?"

The familiars closed off, her exist was blocked unless she could, for some reason such as deus ex machina, destroyed all those familiars with her makeshift weapon. She tried to enhance it with magic like what Mami and Kyouko had done several times, but it didn't work.

'Is my power gone? I can transform and that monstrous strength is there, then it shouldn't have been gone. What should I do?'

A segmented spear suddenly warped around her body and Kyouko fished her out of the familiar mass.

"The hell are you doing, dumbass? You almost got killed! At least use your power to defend yourself, for God sake!" Kyouko spat. Sayaka bristled and screamed back.

"I can't, okay! I tried to summon my sword and it failed!"

"How you could fail to do something li- wait… I think I know what happen."

"Really?" her tone was too eager for her liking, but she didn't have time to reflect it.

"Yea, but can't explain it in this place. Looks like your fight has to be delayed for a moment."

The track out of the barrier was too long for her liking, but she had to know just what was wrong with her. It was bad enough for her to discover that making contract was the same as having your soul ripped out of you, and now she couldn't use her power that she gave out everything of. What good was she if she couldn't even be a magical girl?

They sat on top of the highway overpass in the north of Mitakihara. Sayaka was a bit hesitating to sit like Kyouko, who had her legs dangled on the edge of the bridge, so she just leaned on the structure instead.

"Do you realize that our power is depending on our wish?" Kyouko started without looking at her companion.

"Yeah, Mami-san called it wish magic or something like that."

"The thing is… there are many condition of how our power manifests. You heard the Princess' lecture about karma, right? That we will become stronger if we are someone important like queens or saints. You also heard about her theory about our mind is the thing that taints our soul gem. Our power depends on our wish is because we wish for it, that it shapes according to the spirit of the wish. You can say that anything that has connection to mentality is the one that make our power becomes how it is."

"I don't understand… is it because I'm giving up on what I wished for, that I accepting Kyousuke will never see me like how I to him, my power was lost?"

"Pretty much."

Kyouko summoned her spear. That segmented shaft that Sayaka started to get familiar of clang against each other like a hiss.

"Take my weapon for example. You see, it wasn't always looked like this. Before my old man went insane, the head was a cross and it colored mostly black. It had no segments too. My father called me a witch that seduced his followers, though I don't think he had any idea just literal those words can be, and after it happened, I started to believe myself that I am indeed a witch, at least in a way."

"Before I know it, my spear slithered like a serpent. Like the devil who whispered on the ears of Adam and Eve to take those forbidden fruits. And I like my weapon more than its previous shape. I like being a devil. I first only use my power for myself because I have no one else to share it with, then I got addicted for more. More of these powers, more of these Grief Seeds! I feel powerful! And then… I realized that I and Mami can't be together again. We just become too different."

"My guess is that your power, just like what you said, disappeared because you lost your reason to keep becoming a magical girl. Well… maybe I'm not the best person for you to ask an advice, but you can always search for another reason."

"Search… for another reason?" Sayaka tilted her head in confusion, "Is it that simple? Only searching for another reason will give me my power back?"

"Hei, don't underestimate the power of identity. People destroy themselves trying to find their place as an individual. Look at little Madoka, she becomes so shy like that because she isn't sure just what is her role in this story, right?"

"Well…"

"Or if you really can't do it… I can always brainwash the guy again."

Sayaka widen her eyes. Again with this kind of talk, and in the same place too! But when she stared at the redhead's face, she bit her tongue tried to keep herself from screaming at Kyouko. She stared far away to the horizon. It was sunset, making the sky a beautiful shade of orange. The light draped over her and highlighted a shadow over her eyes. They looked so sad, unlike the time when she suggested breaking Kyousuke's arms and legs. No nasty grin, no sinister leer. Only sadness and broken heart existed. She reluctant to do it but said it anyway, because it was what she wanted. Because it was what Sayaka wanted. Sayaka shook her head in disbelieve.

"Kyouko, what are you…?"

"If it makes you happy, then I'll do it. Anything to make you happy… anything to make you find you reason to continue living…"

No way…

That was impossible…

There wasn't a way that she…

"I don't care if you don't see me 'that way', we… we can always… you know, be friends."

**88888**

"I don't know what to say…"

"Of course, it is indeed difficult if someone who you always thought as adversary suddenly confessed their love and will do anything for you to the point of letting a potential rival get an absolute chance of owning your affection, while the confessor was a female and you only seen to have a strong attraction toward an opposite sex. It's almost hopeless to win in that case."

"Seriously, there's no real difference between you and the badass Hommando. You both have a quite sharp tongue." The glasses girl grunted in disagreement.

"Try telling that to her."

After those words, Kyouko fled from her, seemingly had just realized what she had said. Her world suddenly spun too fast, and she staggered to the nearest friend's residence she could find; Homura's. Madoka's house wasn't that far from there, but she didn't think that she could walk longer to reach Kaname household. She knocked on the door, and said door just automatically opened for her. There was the ghost, who off-handedly said that the (tangible) inhabitant of the house wasn't home yet from her hunting and telekinetically turned on the water heater. This girl was crazily prepared, she made sure that even her subconscious could serve a guest!

Sayaka let the dam break, spilling the story for two minutes non-stop. If she remembered it again, she might be laughing because she was speaking her heart out to a phantom inside this creepily sterile hall. Sayaka slammed her forehead to the circular table, the pain subsided quicker than she remembered.

"What should I do…?"

"What was your problem again? Finding a way so your power back before the judgment day slammed its hammer upon us or the emotion rollercoaster that you suffer from a love confession and the revelation that both you and Kyouko have a problem with unrequited love?"

"Dammit! Can't I have some sympathy here?" Sayaka sighed gratefully that the tea wasn't finished yet as she slammed her fist to the table and the table rocked even though it was nailed to floor. The glasses Homura lowered her head.

"Sorry… but I just don't understand where the problem is. If you just accept Kyouko and learn to like her back, then you have your power back, Kyouko's pleased with the relationship, and no one gets hurt with this messy triangle. Everybody wins."

"If only it's that simple…"

"Then why make it so difficult?"

Even if she accepted Kyouko, Kyouko would think that she just a rebound for her. Not to mention that I wouldn't be so easy to just change her… 'polarity', and it would make the previous reason the real deal. What would a relationship do if one side couldn't answer the other? The very reason why she and Kyousuke couldn't be together became what made them in the same situation. Oh, the irony!

But it was no use, she was talking with someone who had no family and friend before Madoka. She had seen just what was going on with this girl. Everyone was laughing behind her back for her weakness, including her. Everyone except Madoka. This Homura also had not yet reached the same level of obsession over Madoka and attachment for any of them like her future self. She had not yet thought of any of them as a friend.

She was so… empty, it was sad.

"Never mind… I'll to find a way to clean this up."

"You don't have to do this alone. I know I'm an absolutely no good for this kind of things, but it's better than bottling everything up especially when you're a magical girl. If you don't think I as a friend, then think of me as a fellow girl."

Sayaka chuckled.

"It's you who should believe more in us, you know."

"Maybe I am…"

The heater let out a soft whistle. The glasses Homura gestured her to taking care of herself and Sayaka raised her mug to her lips after excusing herself. An instant tea, not as good as Mami's custom made black tea, but who was she kidding? No one could beat Mami's black tea. But still, the warm liquid really soothed her inside.

'Heaven…'

**88888**

Only sound of crunching apples and snacks filled the living room. Kyouko was intending to harass Mami for her cake before finding Sayaka in pinch, and with now sour mood, she no longer had that happiness she found in eating.

The apples were tasteless, just like how she tasted them the first time after finding her father hanging himself on the ceiling of his church. No matter how many she ate, it was tasteless. It was tasteless…

It was salty…

"Eating to fend on your frustration, Sakura-san? Just what kind of argument you had with Miki-san?"

"It wasn't an argument…"

Kyouko rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her ratty jacket. The fabric felt rough, it irritated her eyes even further, but she didn't care.

Just what had possessed her to do that? Now she might be ruining everything between them.

"As much as I like to say that it's very unlike you to angst over something like this, I have to say that it's a right move on your part, Kyouko Sakura. With this, at least Sayaka Miki could think about the alternative of her identity seeking, her happiness in life has not depend on what she believes in. I would rather have you involved than no. Less 'normals' in our business, the better."

Kyouko glared at the impassive figure, who just calmly sipped her tea.

"What are you doing here anyway? Or better yet, how come Mami let you in?"

"I just found out about something that you might want to hear, and Tomoe-san has being kind enough to listen. Not to mention that we share a love for brewed tea… We're not exactly in a really hostile situation with each other, after all."

"Only reason why Homura let you live is because she could use your power and because you're not doing what your past life had done."

"Then we aren't that much different, am I right? She only needs you because she could not do it alone. After the Walpurgisnacht passes, she won't have that much of use in you either… other than for the sentimental reason. Be honest, I really can't see that she would do something like saving Mami Tomoe from that Witch."

"That's very rude of you talking about my death when I'm present, Mikuni-san."

Oriko glanced up from her cup, the haze of the freshly made tea made those green eyes slightly blurred to the duo. She nodded slowly to Mami, who had her arms crossed over her chest.

"Pardon me. That's really inconsiderate of me to say that." Kyouko snorted at her.

"Being a seer makes you inconsiderate?"

"The fact that I can see something before it happens makes me unsurprised with anything in this world. But then I met her, I can't see anything from her even though I could see Madoka Kaname turns into a Witch. She… makes me start hoping again, that she could really make it in this timeline. Especially when I heard a rumor that this timeline will her last."

This made Mami and Kyouko stopped on their track, giving each other a confused stare and turned said stare to the fallen princess. Oriko seemed to not expect this reaction, putting her cup away.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Something that I gain from Kyubey. He might be deceiving us, but he doesn't lie. He said that Homura Akemi is already 'tired' from her journey and her mental most likely to collapse anytime soon. We can't have her doing that, can we? She's the strongest Puella Magi in the decade, she turning into Witch only gives us problem; an even stronger Walpurgisnacht."

Mami sat on the remaining side of her triangle coffee table, clasping her hands together and leaning her chin on them. Seemed to ponder on something before giving up and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Nearer they were to the end of the month, more they anxious about the possibility and result like those students in their final exam. Kyouko absent-mindedly scratched her cheek.

"What about you then? Are you going to fight?" she asked.

"Don't worry; I and Kirika will aid you in Walpurgisnacht. There aren't many, but Mitakihara is our home too. Do you want me to bring that girl here too?"

"No." Kyouko finally subsided her desire to scratch that annoying itch, "Make sure she stay out of this."

"She's our medic and from what I heard from you, Sayaka Miki is not in a good condition. We can't risk our life with a dysfunctional medic. Please understand, Sakura-san. Will you take away a little girl's only relative, to say per se, by having you dying over something like an incompetence of a comrade?"

"I dislike on how you insult our capability, Mikuni-san." Mami's voice was level, but Kyouko knew that she wasn't the type of a person that would snap on someone.

"Then give me some guarantee that she will heal…"

"You can give some guidance to Sakura-san, Mikuni-san. After all, you're… 'experienced'."

Kyouko was choked by her apple. She wasn't exactly sure whether Mami was kidding or not. That girl was a stoic seconded only by Homura and the other girl in the room, a year without contact to each other really deprived her of Mami's own character development. When suddenly she faced against the sleepy-eyed senior and not the eager fellow magical girl she remembered, Kyouko often asked just what did she missed all these times.

"Sorry to say this, but I really can't take advices from a girl whose pet thug is quite… not similar with the one I have a problem with. No offence, but that chick is too crazy even by my standard."

"None are taken. I know her ideal sometimes rubs other people wrong."

That really was an understatement.

Though, the last one was reminding her of the problem in her hand. She thought that she could forget Sayaka with a war strategy talk, but no, Mami had to bring Sayaka up again. If it kept going, she might turn Witch in the middle of Walpurgis. The images from lanterns and floating goldfishes didn't seem like a really bad thing, in a way. Ophelia, how fitting of her.

That damned itch really started to annoy her again when the debate whether Sayaka could be ready for the Walpurgisnacht started again.

**88888**

She liked high places, so she might have to learn to like it too so she could finally accept her feeling. Her love for high places was also shared with the other veterans, so it might be inherited through their experience. If she learned to like high places, could she be considered as a veteran? She wanted to be independent, but in the end, she was still a little girl. She had not yet saw anything worth of grief that was a ritual for all Puellae, only tried to become one of those whose shadow had turn long from walking far into the sunset and successfully embarrassing herself with her epic failing.

She stared at the tall structure; a unique building in the middle of Mitakihara for never being finished before it was used. She heard about the urban legend of the building; that there was a creature, a monster made of pure darkness, kidnapped anyone who stepped on the highest floor. Sounded like a Witch. But it was so, why there was any of Mitakihara magical girls that hunted the Witch down? This building was already in this state since seventeen years ago, when Mitakihara's gigantic construction was complete, and the story had appeared since. Were they deliberately avoiding this Witch? If so, why?

The entrance to the top floor from inside the building was prohibited and guarded heavily, but it didn't mean that she could not scale the wall.

The place was eerily contrasted with the extravagant glass walls and spotlights. Dark, with concrete pillars of the unfinished construction. In front of her was the entrance of the Witch's barrier. The symbol, a bright red sun, was familiar for her; she had seen this Witch before though she couldn't recall the exact detail of it. Maybe this one was a familiar that matured. If so, it was a quite old Witch.

She stepped in. She should not, she knew it. She was weaponless, and most of her powers were gone. But she couldn't stop herself from stepping in.

And now she remembered just what Witch inhabitant this barrier.

Though there were several different element of the barrier, the overall theme was the same. The same stained glass sky and the monochrome color theme. The stained glass formed two lines of runes, but she didn't have to read them to know the name of the Witch. Elsa Maria.

The familiars were already surrounding her, but unlike the first Elsa she fought, these familiars were staying put, only hissing and snarling at her. The sound of pipe organ not unlike the one in church echoed inside the barrier, almost like a choir itself singing as the background music. She heard Homura and Kyouko played the piano in Sakura's church when they thought they were alone several times. None of their plays were as majestic as this one.

Sayaka stared at the back of the Witch that she slaughtered mercilessly.

She wasn't that religious. Hell, she wasn't even a Christian. But she kneeled beside the Witch, letting her hands clasped and her eyes closed. She thought about many things, about many misfortunes that dwelled in a Puella's life.

'If there's a God out there… I wish that He makes our fate slightly more merciful.'

Then she realized something was wrong. The sound of organ was stopped. She opened her eyes and hesitantly turned to her left. A pair of blank white eyes stared back at her. Elsa Maria released her posture after many years to stare her back with so much curiosity.

"_You're a strange Puella, young one. Didn't you know that the most important rule of the magical girls is to never walk inside a Witch barrier unarmed and unguarded? Just how old are you?"_

Sayaka let out a scream of surprise as she fell backward on her rump. The snake-like familiars screeched at the sudden movement, binding and biting at her limbs. She was panic, the familiars were everywhere. Tried to strangle one and three more came in its stead. So many… so many… she was going to die…

But there wasn't a pain anymore. The familiars stopped attacking. The snakes that wrapped around her head loosened slightly, parting in a way that her eyes could see through their bodies. The Witch was towered over her. If the place wasn't made of shadow in the first place, it would be now with how tall Elsa really was. Her hair slithered like her familiars, Sayaka thought that she might looking at a medusa even though her hair was more akin of small branches and leaves.

"_I'm sorry, but could you please not doing that. They might kill you by accident."_

"Y-You… can talk?" Sayaka asked, confused. Elsa Maria only shrugged.

"_I'm as confused as you are."_

"Then… are you the real Witch? I mean, the Witch that was born from shattered Soul Gem."

"_Asking that question might not be the best way to put it. Every Witch that was born from familiars also share a similar memory as the ones that born directly. After all, if the memory of our suffering isn't there, there won't be any Witch that was identical to its mother. Whether I'm a familiar-born of Soul Gem-born, you can make your own conclusion by how intelligent and strong the Witch is."_

"I… see…"

Uncomfortable with the seemingly hospitality from a Witch that she was killed brutally and messily, Sayaka might be fidgeting if not for the familiars binding her entire body.

"_Are you suicidal?"_

"What? No! I mean… no longer…"

"_That's good, it's just you are so unfocused for a magical girl that stepping in the Witch barrier. With our soul trapped in the trinket, it was hard for us to commit suicide without fighting Witch."_

"… Never thought I will talk with one. Does… turning into Witch hurt?"

"_I feel nothing, like I just fell asleep when I died. But don't take my words to the heart; unlike many of you, I deliberately turned into Witch."_

"You can do that?"

"…_I speak too much. You should leave, now. And it's better if you never come back to this barrier."_

The familiars released their strangulation. Sayaka unconsciously rubbed her neck and wrists, stared at the Witch with a confused gaze.

"_I said, leave."_

"Please don't. I… I don't want to meet anyone just yet."

"…"

**88888**

"…_boys at these ages are dense with this sort of thing, and when they finally reach the age where they can appreciate women, the first thing they appreciate is those women that spread their legs for them. It will take awhile for a boy to turn into a true man and understand just what kind of dedication their women will do for them. Sometimes… the development might never happen and they will forever boys. That's why women have to be smart to choose just what kind of man they will spend their life with; when they regret their decision, it's their own fault for choosing so poorly."_

"So… what should I do? It's not about a boy that I have a problem with. I have this girl confessed her feeling for me. I… never thought she will become like that. I mean, she tried to kill me when we first met and generally being a really difficult person to understand unless you know just what happened to her."

"_What do you think about her?"_

"Me? Well… she's a really good friend, once you know her. But it also makes me feel like a jerk, I always use her shoulder to cry on about a boy when she has a crush on me. When I think about it, there are some of my friends that way, so we often rub each other the wrong way in our introduction. But the thing is that I can't just change my way, but I also don't want any of us be separated by this kind of thing. I don't want to play with her feeling. I don't want to use her just so I have my power back and that kind of stuff, I don't really understand it."

Elsa raised one eyebrow. Or she should be, with her right eye slightly widened from its usual narrowing state.

"_Doesn't having your power back mean that you actually answering her affection from the most honest of your heart? Then the fact that you are too tsundere to each other is the only thing prevent you from accepting it fully."_

"…" Elsa sighed at the lack of respond.

"_Okay, forget about that tsundere part. But I'm serious, don't accept it you think you can't reciprocate her feeling, just say that you don't think her that way and I'm sure she will understand. I think she will be more heartbroken if you just try to avoid her, thinking that your bond is unsalvageable with her action and thinking that it's her fault to make it that way. Friendship is like marriage; need commitment, understanding, and loyalty to each other or the trust will corrode unless you're friend with a messiah that will forgive everything and everyone." _

"… You're right…"

She nodded, her posture turned as firm as her determination. At least, she would do something that is right for once. Elsa smiled at the young girl. Even though there was no feature on her face other than a pair of white eyes without iris, Sayaka was sure that she was smiling, though not all of it was happy.

"_Choose well."_

"Thanks. You're not that bad for a Witch."

"_You should go now, longer you stay here, and your folks will think that you got kidnapped."_

"Yes, thank you um… Elsa Maria."

The Witch let that girl go, using her familiars to guide her out of her domain. Out of her earshot, Elsa rubbed her chin, making a thinking pose, before shrugged. Deliberately ignoring those small padded steps, she went back to her position in front of her monstrance and continued her prayer. If that rat wanted anything from her, it would reveal itself to her. So no need to chase after it and ask just what was it scheming to that girl, it wasn't exactly her business.

**88888**

April the 25th, she met her on the top of observation tower. She was looked worse than her usual, with bag under her eyes and her creepy scratching of her cheek. Kyouko gave her a wave, a small and hesitate one that she answered. Sayaka sat beside her, legs dangled on the edge like her. The city was indeed beautiful when you see it from high places.

"So… what do you think?"

"I think I'm an idiot."

She grinned at her, the sentiment that Kyouko didn't shared. The grin melted almost immediately.

"No, really. I think myself as an idiot. I don't think I can move on with my life as a magical girl if I keep pinning on Kyousuke when I can't even talk with him again. But what can I say, it's a first love. There's no way to really destroy it from my life, which is a bad thing if I don't do anything about it."

"So you want me to do it."

It was a statement. Sayaka nodded at Kyouko.

"Yeah, I want you to make me forget about Kyousuke."

There was no sound other than a small breeze of twilight wind. Kyouko could not believe her ears. Did she actually ask to destroy her memories about her crush? Did it no longer matter anymore?

"I have to choose which one I have to put my priority on. I can't become his when I'm a magical girl, there're also too many things that I don't want him to get involved with. The only thing that prevents me from really forgetting him is my infatuation. Let's be honest, I'm a love struck teenage girl, I'm making a big deal with my problem while I ignore anything else. It's just too painful."

"But is that you really want? If your thought almost always revolves around him, when I delete those memories, there might not be many left."

"Then it proves that I'm really unworthy to be an ally of justice. I'm too selfish for my own good, that I'm no one's martyr that can be called as hero. But if I survive this, then I can start a new life as protector of this town. As your magical girl partner, as well."

Kyouko nodded and put her right thumb on Sayaka's forehead. She could tamper with people's memory with just an eye contact, but if the amount of memory she need to delete was massive then it was better if she concentrate her effort on one fixed position. Sayaka was shivering under her touch.

"Will it work?"

"My power is absolute when I'm putting my heart on it. I'm the best mind controller and illusionist that you can find around here. Just relax, 'kay. It won't hurt a bit."

The day was spent on them watching the sun set, feeling somehow accomplished even though one of them didn't understand why. Sayaka went back to her house before 7 because of her curfew from the time she runs off several days before. Her room was full of mirrors. She stood in front of the full-body one. A confident and brave smile widened on her face, her way to be a perfect knight had finally opened for her.

She swept her hand, a bright light flashed in a brief moment, indicating a use of magic. Sayaka weighted her sword; just like what Kyouko had told her, the shape was changing depended on the magical girl's state of mind. Instead of a double-edged sword, now in her hand was a cutlass. Like the one pirates and British marine in movies. It wasn't matter, though; the sword was incredibly sharp as it was.

But it might not enough; Walpurgisnacht is a very large and strong Witch. A simple sword might not sufficient to knock off the Witch. She had to think about a strategy to make her contribution maximal in battle. She had to, everything was depending on them.

Her eyes then focused on her shelf for a moment, where her collection of CDs sat dormant. Confusion was clear in her eyes. She closed in to the shelf.

**88888**

"Are you sure she's ready?"

"Don't worry. I've made sure of that."

Madoka sighed in relief. With all these talk about war strategy and debates, she worried that some of them might do something extreme. But something was disturbing her a little other than Oriko Mikuni's hard stare. Was erasing Sayaka's memory about Kyousuke was a right to do?

She might need to see her with her own eyes how Sayaka coped with it.

For now she had to be satisfied with it.

Madoka met her when they on their way to school. Her smile was infective and her words were light; Madoka was glad that her best friend was almost like her old cheerful self. She looked up and stopped on her track. Not far, Kyousuke and Hitomi walked together to school.

"Madoka, what's wrong?"

She then remembered that Sayaka no longer knew Kyousuke. It was a bit sad to forget about your friend. Sayaka followed her line of sight and gasped.

"Hitomi is dating some boy? Since when?"

It was a bit sad…

April the 26th, four days until the Walpurgisnacht.

**End of chapter**

**88888**

**Author Note:**

Beloved ladies and gentlemen, I would like to use this opportunity to thank you about every review, fav, and alert that you had gave me in previous chapters.

…

Okay, screw these formalities, but I also don't think it's quite appropriate to just waltz in like some punk without previous notice. It's like I contradict myself in just one sentence. But, let me say this once more. Thanks for those who had loan their time to read this one.

The rest of this note will be spent on me answering the reviews. There might some of the details that aren't being revealed in story proper, so might as well watch over it.

_**superstarultra**_

Thanks with your help and review in this fandom and the others. I try my best with the narrative. I think it makes sense in-story for Homura to be the one who deciphered the rune.

The ending might be open ended, but I try my best to make each chapter has its own resolution. It might not explain some of the detail that I might use in future chapters, but the chapter is quite okay as a standalone or a short story which true conclusion you can imagine yourself. But whether it will truly end in positive note or not (haha), it might have to wait for the next chapter.

Of course I have to include the PSP game Witches, the Witches are my favorite aspect of the show. It's my pass time to analyze them; design, nature, barrier, all those things. And after seeing her fight in the game, Itzli is quite cool for a brain.

_**CrimsonHeresy**_

Of course not, people only believe what Homura says about the timeloops because she can show them the proof. Without proof, the end result will be the same like the timeline 3. She waits until people can't deny about her capability, or she will risk them freaking out.

And thanks with the comments.

_**Asellus111**_

Now you can see a continuation. Be glad that my schedules slip disease not yet ridden me. To be honest, I'm really bad at writing multiple chapter stories because of my own boredom and minimalist attention lifespan, but I try my best to keep up with my stories. This answer also goes to _**satuross.**_

I made the chapter with the mentality of the Incubators in mind. Many people are just judging on Kyubey without much thought, and are often jumped on conclusion that he absolutely justified to be used as firewood or punching bag. Well, I think he deserves those things, but it doesn't mean I can think just like them. I too can be emotionless and has no subjective empathy if I choose to be that way. That's why I really like the fanfictions that told Kyubey's intention without the mentality of 'Kyubey is evil' written in giant neon sign. He especially suited with psychoanalysis because of his objectiveness and other-worldly norms.

_**James Birdsong**_

Thanks. Ehm… to be honest, I don't really like you. If you keep on writing some one or two words review, I don't think I can properly thank you this way. Such a shame, really.

_**Wicked Hermit**_

Like I had said to superstarultra, it makes sense in-story. You remember the hassle? Are you actually there when the imageboard tries to decipher the rune? Damn, finally another someone who witnessed the convoluted mess that is 4chan in the wake of Episode 2. Yeah, I reenact the combined effort of the anons when I write the chapter, including the 21 hours of its chronology. I actually even wanted to write 'based on 4chan's effort' at the beginning of the chapter but deleted that part when I planned the chapter 2.

I make sure that every character will be in-character, though I'm adding several possible characterizations of the characters that is make sense in story. For example, that 'everybody's death affected her less and less' part you say, I took it from Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate, also about time travel spam to save a friend's life. It also already showing signs in Kyouko's route in PSP game, where Homura is actually letting Mami die and personally kills Oktavia before Kyouko and Madoka try to talk with her because they are too hopeless.

Did I play the game? No actually. But I watch the visual novel parts of the game. My moon isn't really good, but I at least could understand the plot through emotion the voice actors carry and the CG scenes. You don't have to understand the language to understand the heart, after all. I'm waiting for tri4's fanlation. I heard about their infamous 'stay healthy', but a beggar can't exactly choose.

I want to add more of the Faustian elements, but if so, the chapter will be too long and the decaying attention of mine will rot faster. Can't have that, so I might write it in future chapter. And yeah… my grammar is always become my enemy. Worse subject in the class, I don't think I can change that immediately. Maybe I try to find some beta, want the job?

.

Thanks for your time once more and see you later in the next chapter… maybe?


	4. Bystanders

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Through the eyes of the heroes from other stories, a tale can change its meaning._

**88888**

_Puellae Magi, those who are blessed by the Incubators' presence to battle against the curse of the universe. Whether they realize it or no; these girls are the saviors, in their own way. It's their fate since the time they were born._

_Those who are fated to walk on the path of suffering and pain. Every time a little girl cries because of a skinned knee, there might be a potential for her to be one of them. To be a Puella, she had to be born with the potential, no matter how small. Once you can't see an Incubator walks in front of you, there's no way you could see them in the future and no amount of effort could change it. Being a Puella is for life, and the potential is attainted by being born._

_Like winning a gamble._

_Hierarchy of the kingdom still exists though. Something that the girls know as 'karma'. Amount of suffering and burden weighting a girl's shoulders before their contract becomes an indicator of one's power as a Puella. Someone that has other people's life as burden will automatically more powerful than some random school girl, whether from their birth responsibility, their own making, or other people's making. The strong will attract the weaker simply by existing; their soul will weigh more and their presence will bring anyone to their knee with small fuss. It's the way it was._

_And along with burden, comes the despair._

_Stronger Puellae Magi will turn into stronger Witch, their soul bursts into mighty tornadoes and storms, and their individual death will give the universe more lifespan than several weaker girls. The Incubators aim for the most efficient method; quality over quantity. That's why they don't just appear in front of some girl with limited potential. Not to mention that if they could not keep their existence a secret, people will notice and put two on two together, doesn't matter how ridiculous the reason. Their belief for superstitions is something that could hinder the mission of the Incubators as it makes them believe for something supernatural, and something they can't perceive with their senses like the Incubators is something that they recognize as supernatural._

_Panic and paranoia will engulf the world, and people will get more caution with the potential contracts. The Incubators will lose their magical girls and the universe will lose one planet worth of quotas. It's as simple as that._

_But there's one place that we found interesting. The territory of unit 2225106429 in Japan. The region of Mitakihara and its neighboring towns, where it has been predicted as the next place of Walpurgisnacht. There are many of those girls that we could be said as strong, and with the Walpurgisnacht incoming to it, the Witches that gather in the city increase by six fold. It seems those girls have decided to join force to fight in the eve of the theatre, and they keep each other's back motivated by something they like to call 'friendship'. There's no sign of them falling into despair other than that newly contracted girl and not even that become a problem any longer. They are prepared for the celebration._

_It doesn't matter, though. If their spirit broken in their fight, their despair will be even stronger than ever. Seeing everything they fight for destroyed right in front of their eyes will snap the already fragile mind of young girls fighting abominations just for surviving._

_Dream, hope, purpose. Everything swiped clear by an apocalypse that about to swallow the region whole._

_But in a way, they are not so different from us. They want to preserve their existence in this world. It's just their way of surviving is involving the fact that they are against our method. We try to understand why they have to go through the suffering just to spite us with their continual resistance, and I come to a conclusion that we agree to disagree about each of our sacrifices. Their morality prevents their full acceptance that they have to surrender their life for this universe's complete salvation. _

_We have read the report about those girls. A quite unique combination, it's surprising that they can stay in a same room and yet, now here they are, joined by their shared intention to keep their home safe. Every alliteration, every timelines, every repeated deaths, we had watched over. Unit 2225106429 had not realized it until recently when it witnessed Homura Akemi using her power. It's just an ordinary Incubator, though; no serious problem will surface if it is disposed. _

_Seven, no, eight Puellae Magi will fight in the Walpurgisnacht._

**88888**

"Mami-san! Let's go play with us."

Again, she slowly turns to face, before smiling that empty smile of hers.

"I'm sorry, but I have something to do today."

Again with that disappointment. Minami-chan drags me to the side, whispering her displease to my ear.

"Why you always ask her to come along? You know that she won't accept. She always does every time you ask her."

"Minami-chan, she's our friend."

I try to keep my voice even. When Minami-chan says those hurtful things, I can't just let it be. Minami-chan only snorts at those words. She doesn't understand, she doesn't know about Mami-san's problem and just assume that she's just another stuck up princess like everyone else.

Mami-san wasn't always like that. When we were in our first year, Mami-san was like everyone else. Sociable, cheerful, she was everyone's idol. Until that accident, her parents passed away and she never as outspoken as she was. Like she built a wall between her and everybody else. Maybe she thinks it's her fault that her parents died while she survived without many fanfares.

Minami-chan doesn't understand that because she was transferred in our second year.

We are rounding the corner when we see her again. Does she walk so fast that we don't realize that she had walk pass us? She's with some juniors, talking with hushed voice. We can't contain our curiosity. We eavesdrop.

"-don't worry about the other. Akemi-san predicts that the storm will reach the supercell level before the main event, so people should have evacuated by then."

The small girl, the one with pigtails, bites her lip. She seems so unsure, so scared. Just what happened? Minami-chan also becomes interested.

"Four days, Kaname-san, Miki-san. We have to make sure everything is according to plan. With some troubling rumor runs rampant… I think this is our last chance."

"You mean she will really…"

"We don't know yet. But if Mikuni-san is the one who say it, it leans more on the 'true' side. She manipulates, not lies."

"But if so, then what will happen to her, to us, when we fail?" the blue one says. Mami-san averts her eyes.

"Then… it's our fate to die."

I gasp. Just what the hell are they talking about? The storm? Plan? Dying? Minami-chan seems to share my thought, but in a more demented way. Like she just found an alien organism and wants to slice it open to see just what's inside. We strain our ear to hear more, but those three walk away from us and out of the school.

"Maybe she's not as boring as I thought," Minami-chan muses on herself before turning to me, her eyes glimmer with excitement; "We should follow them. It's in four days, right?"

"Minami-chan, don't be a dummy. Even though we want to see just what Mami-san hides from us, she said something about a storm and evacuation. Our parents won't let us out of the shelter when it happens, by a large margin, if it really happens."

She deflates almost immediately.

**88888**

_When speaking about the Puellae power, we instantly wonder about their wish. The wish magic where their power surfaced is depending on two conditions known as the wording of the wish and the spirit of the wish. The wording of the wish is the phrase that the Puella uses when making their contract, on how exactly they phrase their wish is. For example, when a candidate wishes 'I want to be smart like my friend', her wish magic will result in her enhanced intelligent and strategic prowess or some power related to the hidden potential of the cerebrum. It's the easiest to guess power of a Puella when you analyze their wording of the wish, as it's a linear method and the hypothetical end is more likely to accurate._

_The spirit of the wish is a little tricky condition of wish magic. The spirit of the wish is the true intention of the Puellae when they make their contract. More often than not, the Puella has some ulterior motive when they make contract, resulting in a distortion of their power. The wish 'I want to be smart like my friend', when the intention is to make her friends take liking on her, has more possibility to result in brain control and illusionary magic. When the power is not changing with the differentiations of the wording and the spirit, the wish magic's potential is noticeably weaker when we compare it with other Puella who has the synchronized wording and spirit._

_Mami Tomoe, she's a particular specimen, we have to say. Her wish magic is not a direct result of her wish, but more of a scaled-down personification of her spirit of the wish. It's because her wording of the wish makes it impossible for her to have the full power of her wish. 'I want to live,' she said. If her wish magic follows such phrasing, then in theory she would be given an ability to revive the dead or an ultimate immortality. But her karma plays a significant downgrade of the power of wish; she's just an ordinary schoolgirl with stable life before that turning point after all._

_Instead, the magic materialized in form of ribbons. As per the law of this one world, those who want to live are the one who has attachment to the living world. The attachment to anchor a concept to physical realm, making it possible for her to bind something abstract and unreachable such as dying souls into their bodies. Her limitation changes that by making her attachment only capable of binding something that she could perceive and nothing else. Slight bonus of said wish is that she also granted a minor healing power._

_Because her wish is… we could say, wasted by such an overpowered wish, we always think that she will never get pass the label of mediocre Puella and we don't expect much from her. But, she survives, and along with time and experience, grows stronger in skill. There are some set-backs, but there's no serious problem that will hinder her from becoming an important asset as she has been in charge of Mitakihara for several years already._

_In topic of differentiation of the wording of the wish and the spirit of the wish, we can safely assume that Kirika Kure is an example where the intention is stronger than the phrasing. Her wish to 'change personality to be the one that Oriko Mikuni likes' instead granted her minor power over time manipulation. There's almost no clue of her power with just her wording of the wish because her spirit of the wish is 'to spend time as long as possible with Oriko Mikuni', and because of that intention, her power is greatly off-railing to the wording._

_As already mentioned, her power in time manipulation is considerably weaker than another time manipulator, Homura Akemi. She only can slowing her opponent if the opponent is in front of her and need many more preparations compares on Homura Akemi, who can instantly activate her power as she pleased and the power has a universe-scale effect._

_She still has the wish, though. Because the wish and the wish magic is a different thing, the wish is granted literally no matter the intention, while the wish magic is granted with those conditions._

**88888**

That bastard Yuuki again leaving me in the post. I have to get back at him these days, maybe rat him out to the Inspector. I mean, give me a break; I've been in this stinkin' post for the last five days in his shifts. A man has needs too, and I haven't seen my babe lately with that son of a bitch running away from duty while the Captain is here.

I want to ditch work too, with a relatively peaceful place like this, not many things a police can do. But that's also the reason why I chose Mitakihara.

Just a little longer and I can sweep my babe's feet to the altar.

Though this boring live sometimes get in my nerve. Like there's nothing exciting happen in this world anymore. Give me some disaster! Evil crime boss! That corrupt politician whose daughter is rumored to take control some kind of gang! Anything! At least make me feel alive facing against something that beyond my police grunt status and not dying to tell the tale.

But no, there nothing happen here except for several thieves and other craps some third-rated society scum do so badly they get caught red-handed in attempt. Well, except for this one thief, the one who always busted ATMs without being seen in the cameras.

I don't know what happened, no one does. Even when there's several security officers guarding the things, the thief never get caught. Just like those disappearances on the never-finished building, no one make any real effort to solve this one case after awhile because there's absolutely no clue whatsoever on the scene.

To be honest, that's kinda creepy. Like that one urban legend about a little girl burning an orphanage while singing a campfire song.

I always think that the culprit is has something to do with those mysterious people the streets have got a wind of. A bunch of figures who jumping on the roofs at night. Just like many other Mitakihara's urban legend, many wonders about that too. Mostly of the real evidence of their existence, as they almost never been seen.

Some says that those people are teenage girls with frilly outfits. Cosplayers that think they're real magical girl? Hah! That would be hilarious.

"Oi, Takeda! Your time for patrol!"

Hell yeah! Finally a chance for me to escape this shitty post.

"Yeah, I'm going!"

Taking my bike from the rack, I quickly take off to my darling's house not far from the convenient store. As I often do, I shut out my surrounding except for the peripheral vision in front of me. But a girl with long flaming red hair somehow got my attention.

For some reason, her very existence is so bright that one can't help to stare at her. I twist my head to see her walk to the direction of Mitakihara Junior High, but she doesn't wear any uniform. A delinquent?

I shrug off and continue my journey.

**88888**

I want to look behind my shoulder and watch after her. I want so badly. But after these several days, I think she's ignoring me. I bite down a bitter laugh. I guess now we're even then. I really take her for granted that even she gets sick of it.

The bell announce our lunch break, I immediately turn around to see her brush pass me without something like recognition.

Her eyes no longer have that familiar glint like every time we meet and talk. I miss that glint. Sayaka who doesn't have that glint feel like a stranger to me.

"Kamijou-kun?"

Shizuki-san called me out of my trance. I give her one of those smiles that I often wore at the time of my hospitalization. I give her an apology for not be with her for this lunch time and go after where Sayaka went. She runs off really fast, I quickly lost track of her.

"Hei, Nakazawa-kun."

"Oi, Kamijou-kun." He grins good-naturedly at me, "What's bothering you?"

"I wonder if you see where Sayaka goes."

"Oh, Miki-chan? Yeah, she goes to the roof with Kaname-chan and Akemi-san. I can't believe that ice queen gets along well with her after their really cold treatment for each other before."

"… What do you mean?"

He stares at me like I grow an extra head.

"Are you kidding me? Oh, wait, you were in hospital when it happens. Yeah, when Akemi-san had just got transferred to this class, Miki-chan immediately hates her guts. Not that I blame her, you should see how Akemi-san look down upon those nosy girls with contempt. Just like some snobbish princess out of an anime, even though I heard she's an orphan that lives by herself."

I heard of it, though I really doubt it if I'm not looking at the real deal. I mean, Akemi-san is indeed cold but not to the extent that Sayaka will hate her for it. At least, from what I see, she's not what Nakazawa-kun refers to 'look down with contempt' and keep civil to the classmate even though it's clear that we better not bothering her.

"…I think something happen lately between them and that something somehow make Miki-chan kissing the ground she walks on. Well, that's kinda an exaggeration, but at least now Miki-chan sees her as some kind of a mentor."

Wait, what? I blocked out of Nakazawa-kun's babble like the usual, he always babble if given chance, and I think I missed something important along the way.

Okay, if I keep being here, I will miss her. I go to the roof, but when my hand grips the knob door, I hesitate. I can't suddenly appear in front of her when I have ignoring her for sometimes and just expect that everything is going to be fine.

But from behind the door, I hear a soft string of a violin.

I open the door and see a scene that I mostly likely won't see otherwise.

In the middle of the vast white roof, hair played by the wind, is Sayaka playing an unfamiliar tune on a violin. Four people are watching the performance; Kaname-san, Akemi-san, a girl that isn't wearing a uniform, and someone who looks like an upperclasswoman from her choice of shoes. They're watching intently as Sayaka, who surprisingly, expertly glides her fingers on the strings.

I never know she could play.

The tune is soft and sad, though at the end it turns slightly forceful before back to the sad nuance. Like a failed hero's journey.

After the long last note, everyone present clap their hands.

"Sayaka-chan, that's amazing!"

"Indeed it is."

"Though, I never know you could play. That song is 'Decretum', right?" The red haired girl mumbles before taking a large bite on her apple. Sayaka scratches the back of her head.

"Yeah… I also don't really understand that. I mean I have all of these classical music CDs from nowhere so I think maybe I really play but I don't have any violin, so I ask my mother to buy me one. At least she could afford her time for ordering one." Sayaka rolls her eyes.

I know her relationship with her mother isn't exactly peaceful like Kaname-san's even though both of their mothers are busy, but something's telling me that Sayaka no longer has respect for her mother. But the personal family problem is quickly forgotten and replaced by a massive toothy grin.

"I try it for some time yesterday, and guess what? It's like I've been doing this all my life. I don't remember it, but it feels natural, I feel the beauty of music and it really makes me happy." She beams at her friends, and unknowingly, at me.

"I think I fall in love."

Suddenly my heartbeats blare loudly in my ears.

I think I blacked out, as when I realize it, someone is kicking my leg. I raise my head, and I think I understand what Nakazawa-kun refers to Akemi-san's 'looking down with contempt' as right now, I meet her narrowing eyes, prying everything from my being and judging me of my every flaw. I shiver.

"You have no business here."

"I have to see Sayaka."

I try to stand and my legs barely have enough strength to support me. Just several days ago I'm allowed to abandon the crutches and the lingering sensation still fresh in my mind, but this feeling is worse than having your legs paralyzed from a traffic accident.

This is the feeling of having your legs paralyzed by fear.

I was taking a step to the door when Akemi-san slams her palm to the wall, effectively blocking my way to the roof. I spy a small cobweb pattern forming under her hand.

"You will not. Do you have any idea just what you have just done to her? She tries so bad to forget you because she can't take the notion of you forgetting her and left her with only those sad memories. Now she made it, and you will just walk in to her life again?" she shakes her head in disagreement while keeping her gaze on me.

"Y-You don't understand!"

"What do I not understand? She reminds you of the time when you were a pitiful and miserable mess, right?" her lips suddenly spread into a cruel smile, "You can't take it, so you pushed her away, you ignored her dedications, you were too blinded by your own self pity that you can't see that she suffered as much as you do! Now she's not going to bother you anymore, you should be celebrating, right?"

She composes herself with several drawn breath and withdraws her hand. I think I saw something flashes in her eyes; something like satisfaction over an achievement. She then storms pass me, and I drag myself to the class. The day seems to blur like a fast-forwarded video.

**88888**

_Another example of differentiation of the wish magic through the wording of the wish and the spirit of the wish is Sayaka Miki. She's a flawed human, with no full understanding of her own desire. Just like what Mami Tomoe said to her in their earlier days, she doesn't understand why she wants the affection of one named Kyousuke Kamijou when she thinks his recovery is her happiness. Denial and doubt, that's the something that lessen the density of her power, though her confused ideals aren't as tangled as one seems to analyze. _

_Unlike Kirika Kure, her wish magic closely follows her wording of the wish instead of her spirit of the wish because even though she has the doubt regarding the issue of her wish is against what she really wants, recovery of her object of affection still on top of her priority._

_She's flawed human being, but still in something human call 'good at heart'. If she could accept her flaw and make herself better from it, she could become what Puellae Magi call 'a perfect knight'. Her decision to let Kyouko Sakura to help her forget, on the other hand, might not a wise choice because of that very reason because in a way, she runs away from her conflict. Just like a certain someone._

_To be honest, the extent of Kyouko Sakura's power is astounding. Incubators reports only mention her power as something akin like illusion weaver, not a full-blown mind control and barrier weaver. But when the power is gone for a quite some time, it's natural to search for a new one._

_Puellae Magi are fueled by emotion. Stronger the emotion, stronger they would be at exchange of their increased corruption rate. And so, if a magical girl no longer feels any emotion that once attach her to her wish, their power will corrode and disappear. On the other hand, if that attachment is replaced by another, the power comes back in a new form. Not exactly different power all together but more of a different manifestation. This is what the Puellae Magi call the 'drive'. When karma determines the shape of a Puella's power before their contract, the 'drive' determines the shape of Puella's power after the contract while still in the boundary of the power granted by the karma._

_Both Sayaka and Kyouko's case is a form of the 'drive changing' because of the circumstance of their life. In Sayaka Miki's, only the weapon changes because her ideal as knight in shining armor shatters in wake of her action. Self-depreciation at the revelation is the right way to put it. Kyouko Sakura changes her way of living, and by proxy her power, as a form of survival mechanism. With her wish destroying her family, she rejects that power and develops her other power, not knowing that those chain fence barriers are just another extension of illusionary power. Giving an illusion of her making those fences that effects five senses to the point of other people physically recoil from 'touching' the illusion like it's a genuine thing._

_Now, with Sayaka Miki came to her life, she has to believe once again that she could convince and talk Sayaka out of her depression. To think that the one she almost killed at their first meeting become the thing that grant her that power back, is a really surprising development. Kyouko Sakura's karma is quite large, with her poverty, starvation, poor treatment from other people because of her father's ideal, and physical punishments she received because of her thievery, she's a strong Puella Magi even without her wish magic. Now with her power back, she's a really precious asset more than ever._

_Influence of one magical girl to one another is quite strong in the community of Puellae Magi, as there's almost no way of socialization other than fellow magical girls. A bit sad case, also explaining that many of Puellae are not married even when they reach the age if they survive that long._

_Obviously, the influence can affect the contract, whether it's the karma-based power or the drive-based power. Yuma Chitose becomes one of greater medic magical girl because of her wish is to be useful to Kyouko Sakura. Since Kyouko Sakura is a close-ranged fighter and the circumstance of the contract is that Kyouko was mortally wounded, the wish materialized as healing power. But of course the wording of the wish is to be useful for Kyouko Sakura; the power is more effective to Kyouko than to other people._

_From this instance, if Kyouko wishes for it, Yuma Chitose's power can be as effective to other people. Abusing the loopholes even in a system that have a rule for everything, is something that magical girls who knew just what awaits them in the contract are aiming or taking pleasure of. Feeling that the circumstance of the wish is stacked against them, deceiving the Incubators is like a sport for them._

_Though, whether they want to play chess against us or the fact that they realize they could do just that is depend on how creative the magical girl. The problem with Yuma Chitose is that she doesn't realize the potential and the limitation of her wish, considerably suppressing her power and, to our advantage, keeping her under our control._

**88888**

This town is amazing. I never thought the Mitakihara city's development would reach this kind of state in a short time. Now, people who laugh at Mitakihara's Youth Breakthrough League's ambition for their city have to swallow their own tongue with all of these achievements. I mean, they have laser keyboards in public facility for God's sake!

I glad I took Seki's offer to work in the Uni's lab, not every day I see scenery like this. Not to mention I can take Hanako out of her work for once. My wife is absentmindedly ripping her bread and throwing it to the lake, where a duck family swims lazily to devour it. I think she doesn't share my sentiment to this town. Not because she think this city isn't interesting. I lightly bump her head with my own, earning me a punch on shoulder.

She must be lonely.

It's not like we don't try for another child. But she always holding back, fearing to lose that one too, which is ridiculous because the only reason why we lose our firstborn was because we were young and stupid.

"Homura-chan? I thought you get home early for the preparation."

We both turn to the source of the voice. A cutesy kind of voice, I might add. Standing beside out park bench is a small girl with pigtails. Her pink hair really reminds me of the certain boisterous someone whose shall not be named. Is that natural? But I've seen many people with strange hair color in this city.

… Don't tell me it's a kind of genetic mutation of this town.

The girl seems to direct her address to Hanako, and when she realizes that she's not the one she expected, she gasps in embarrassment and bows deeply to us.

"I'm sorry! I thought you're my friend." Hanako brushes her apology off.

"Everyone makes mistake."

She then smiles brightly at us. It's cute. Maybe it's a good thing to talk with a local citizen. She's still wearing her uniform. A middle-schooler? But she's really small; I think if I see her in casual outfit, I might mistake her for a grade-schooler.

… strange, she answers Hanako's smile without the usual drill, uncomfortable shuffling and averting eye contact, that people tend to do when they face her. Or us, to that matter. We're either social pariahs or saints for them. And yet, this young little girl stares back at our eyes like we are her equal. It… feels nice.

"May I sit here? I hope I don't bother you."

"Of course not, this is a free park bench, after all."

She's sweating light, was she running an errant? But other than her slowed pants, no one speaks. It quickly turns awkward. I overestimate my confidence, it seems.

"I never see you around here. Are you tourists?"

Surprisingly, she's the one who break the silence.

"Uhm… yeah. I have a work in this town."

"That's great. I mean, we really need some doctor here."

Ah, must be from my coat.

"Not really. I'm just making medicines, not really a doctor that cures people."

"Oh. That's no less great though. Homura-chan's heart was healed because of both surgery and medicines. Ar- arri…"

"Arrhythmia?"

"Yes, arrhythmia… I think she said that… She said that she had it since birth."

"Is that so? Then it's better for her if she discovers the ailment in earlier year so the treatment could be given in a less chronic phase. How is she?"

"I… don't think she looks sick, though. Well, other than her pale skin. Sometimes she looks a little bluish-grey. She also never blushes. Other than that, she's really smart and athletic like she had never been hospitalized."

There's a shadow of doubt when she talks. She's hiding something.

Well, it's not really my business to pry.

"Everyone has damage, though…"

"Hanako!" I elbow her ribs.

"No, that's true." The girl mumbles almost inaudibly, "I'm worried about her. But she never let me, or anyone, to help her. Everyone try to keep up with her, to support her, to do whatever they could to make her pain slightly better. But there's always a wall between us…"

What pain does she mean? From her descriptions, I got a feeling that this Homura is perfectly fine, albeit slightly detached from others. Maybe this is what Hanako refers to 'damage'. The girl sniffs, doesn't realize that she has reveal an important information.

"I want to help her so bad…"

"Then help her."

"I don't know what I should help her with."

"You don't have to." Hanako interjects, "Just show her that you will always be there for her. It's good if you want to help, but you will miss the true reason why everyone has their own problem if you just try to make hers disappear."

"True reason?"

"Yes… That it's a way for us to grow as a person. If we make mistakes, that's okay because we are still learning. We learn from our problem and mistake, so not to repeat it in future."

"… Mama said that to me before."

"See? It's not good to run from your problem, but it's even better if we can avoid it. You have to face it if you can't avoid it; otherwise life doesn't have its meaning."

The girl contemplates over it for some moment, before the same bright smile she gave us before appears once again in her face. Maybe Hanako shouldn't be a writer and instead becomes a counselor. The girl has a look of enlightened relief on her face, like just found an answer to the greatest question in this mortal world.

"Hei, Madoka! Princess! I though you both pass out in your respective homes from the preparation."

"Ah, Kyouko-chan." The girl, now dubbed Madoka, giggles at the red-haired newcomer, "You made a same mistake as I did."

"What mis- oh…"

The redhead, Kyouko, stares at Hanako for awhile. I start to get a feeling that I'm generally being ignored in this girl-to-girl kind of conversation, so I opt to wait for any reaction from the onlookers. Two people had mistaken her for another person in this town; I'll be lying if I'm not slightly being curious about it.

Passing people around us giving an uncomfortable background din as Kyouko continues to stare. I fear that her attention will result in something unwanted nervous breakdown. Especially when the girl in question has some kind of wild eyes that reminds me on those really scary movies that utilize some of the best make-up effects.

Kyouko straightens herself and snorts in the most unlady-like manner possible.

"It's kinda creepy when you see that insane piece of work's face without her ugly frown. Though… it's indeed a really pretty face."

… Did a teenage delinquent girl just hit on my wife? She either doesn't understand the suggestive undertone of her statement or she's a tease to begin with.

"What are you doing here, Kyouko-chan?"

"Just like you, running some errant for those insufferable pompous bitches, you met them already. By the way, I thought you already finished several hours ago for sake of family dinner. I heard that your Pa's cooking is awesome." She then quickly adds, "It's a sin to waste deliciously made cooking especially if it was made by your Pa, you know."

"Almost finished, don't worry."

"I also saw that homeroom teacher of yours in your neighborhood."

"Kazuko-sensei?" then Madoka slaps her forehead, "Ah! I completely forgot! The homeroom teacher routine visits…"

"Wanna a lift?"

Madoka peers over Kyouko's shoulder, to the bright red bicycle that Kyouko uses as her transportation. She seems to recognize the vehicle and glares the best dagger she could make at the redhead.

"Kyouko-chan, isn't that Sayaka-chan's bike?" she deadpans.

"Well… I kinda stole it from her." Madoka glares harder, "Okay, okay, I'll give it back to her… soon."

Nevertheless, Madoka satisfies with answer and nods at the invitation. Totally buying it or just knowing that to nag further is pointless, who knows? Kids these days aren't so simple anymore. She whirls to face us and bows.

"Thank you for your time. It's really nice to meet you both."

Well, she doesn't forget me, that's a relief.

Before we could answer, she already runs off to the redhead and together, they rides off to the sunset. I wish I was lying, the angle where the sun set really makes the visual presentation of the scene incredibly cliché, not to mention very disturbing when you remember that they must be no more than 14-15 year old girls.

But the thing with this 'Homura' makes me a little curious. Why Kyouko calls her 'Princess' though? Is she a rich girl or just having a royalty-like charisma that a street girl gives her that nickname? Or is she a representation of every bad thing someone from upper-class can have that the nickname is a form of sarcasm? I'm sure the woman beside me also thinks the same way. But she just leans her head to my shoulder.

"Let's go back. I'm exhausted."

**88888**

"Mitakihara is doing their exam, I see…"

"Akagi-san, do you think we should help them?"

"…no."

"No?"

"If they can't do it on their own, what good they can give us?"

"But what about their matriarch? Doesn't she just use her strange power and… well, I don't know what she will do, but it must be a quite something that the Incubators are so noisy about it."

"She won't do that."

"Why is that?"

"She's bluffing to her Incubator, you know. Like a noose that almost snaps from the weight, just put a little more and all of it will tumble down. She won't continue, at least not without doing some serious damage to herself. Further."

"A-Akagi-san…"

"Of course, there's no way she will lose now. A flame that burn so brightly, is that romantic?"

"Akagi-san, I don't understand."

Akagi didn't answer, and instead twirled along the edge of the skyscraper that they perch on. Humming a tune that only her know about, her red eyes glinted in a calm reserve, contrast with her cheerful dance and seemingly fetish for horrifying innuendo.

A storm cloud, visible for those who watch really closely, was approaching fast from south-east. The scene is surreal and dissonant, a happily-dancing girl on top of a skyscraper without fear for the height or the storm. She whirled around, facing her companion with a soft smile that nothing short of disturbing.

"We should reserve some seats for the main play!"

**88888**

They both are sitting on Junko's personal bar, swirling their cocktails in a lazy circle. Light blue, almost glowing in a dimly lit room, Kazuko idly notes.

"I have a difficult student…" she slowly says before sipping her nuclear-like beverage.

"A problem child?"

"No… just difficult. Difficult to guess what's inside her head, difficult to track her past…" Kazuko then chuckles softly at her next thought, "Difficult to see just what her preference in love life is."

"She's mustn't more than fourteen…"

"Doesn't act or look that way…"

"… don't tell me, it's Homura Akemi."

"You know her?"

"Madoka never shut up about her, to be exact. She's like talking about her crush when she talks about her." Kazuko shrugs.

"That's normal for kids to talk about their new friends with adoration, I guess. That girl seems too perfect for my taste. I arranged for to sit on the front because her previous school and the hospital that treated her for half a year say that she has bad eyesight and you guess what? She aces all the subjects like it's nothing."

"Kazuko… she talks about how her thigh is beautiful."

…

Okay, the teacher couldn't imagine just how awkward the talk could be. But still, Madoka's right; she's attractive enough for the entire school to turn their head when she walks pass. Sometimes, Kazuko wonders there some kind of…

"That's not the only thing." She just tries to concentrate on her previous subject, "It's just… her eyes, like a soldier's who lose his comrades. I dated a guy like that, and I honestly loathe it."

"But she's not a soldier, or a man for that matter." Junko quickly adds,"You won't check whether she's a soldier nor a man, will you?"

"What? What are you taking me for? Besides, she isn't uncomfortable changing in front of her female classmates so at least I can be sure that she's a girl."

"Well, then what's your problem? She's smart, so she won't bother you with remedial tests."

"No, no… it's about her… escapade."

"Her… what?"

"Well, I don't know any better way to describe it. she just… attracts several girl in and out of the school, all of whom have some kind of psychological dysfunction, or at least from the girls that I know about, then collect them in one place for some reason that me and other teachers can't pry on. You know what the deal with Sayaka-chan, then there're these third year girls that also have problem with neglect. She even nets that daughter of Hisaomi the corrupt politician, for God sake. All these shady activities make me think that she has something to do with prost-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Kazuko."

The phrase was short, but the firmness and the air of authority in its tone make Kazuko shuts her mouth faster than she could possibly thought possible. They go silent for some moment until Junko, finally snapped out of her tranquil fury, facepalms and leans on said hand to the table.

"Ha… I'm sorry…"

"No, I'm stepping out of my boundary."

"You can't help it. you worry about them too…"

"I should know better. There's no way Madoka would be friend with someone who isn't good. I just… I'm confused… I don't know what to do with them."

The teacher removes her glasses and pinches the bridge of her nose to snuff out the incoming headache. There's something that wrong, she knows it. but her own ignorance is so frustrating in many cases and this one is no exception.

"I just hope they don't do anything stupid…"

**88888**

_Limitation is a way to control one's power, for the owner of the power herself or us. If a magical girl's power becomes too strong to control, then the power becomes a danger. Especially is the power is something that can bend a concept. Like how Mami Tomoe's wish can grant her a power of resurrection, the limitation of karma prevents her from gaining that power. But there's another way of limitation, usually special for each Puella Magi depends on the power._

_Future, such a wonderful word. But to bend a future for one's own liking is like having the writer of this story as a magical girl. To change something as she pleases, that's absurd. 'To know the meaning of one's own life' is to see how the life will cope. To see and to change are different things altogether, but when one's can see, then there's a chance for her to change._

_To limit the vision is the only way to prevent the change from becomes too large. Like a single flap of a butterfly could affect the wind in millions years, what one does to change can change other things without rising radar before it's realized. Only capable of seeing something a moment before it happens, and any further vision will significantly weaken her and corrupt her Soul Gem to the point of shattering. That's something that we only can do to Oriko Mikuni._

_Homura Akemi… our major source of headache. A power to control time is even more dangerous. Seeing every possible scenario and thinking every possible counterattack, she's dangerous in a way that she could see through many of our schemes. Not to mention that newly-found power of hers. There's a reason why she's one of the most capable warriors in this world._

_To be honest, her potential isn't as extraordinary compares on someone like Madoka Kaname, and most of her abilities are from reliving the same one and half month while experimenting with everything that she has in her. But still, can't be restrained. Everything she touch and that touched her will be inside her power, her time-travel only capable of bringing her back to March the 16__th__ if the sand of her hourglass is empty in the end of the month, and her only natural offensive ability will drain her of her power for several days. Her power is unparallel, but also full of self-imposed rules and conditions._

_That's also means that no one knows just what will befall her if she succeed and her sand empty. Will she still automatically send back to the beginning? Or will she lose her power as she can no longer recharge her sand without turning back her hourglass, thus risking a chance where she has to reliving said month again? Either way, both consequences are leading to her finally turns Witch._

_She has everything stacked against her and there's nothing she can do to change it. But still, there's no guarantee that someone from outside can't change her fate. Someone like… Madoka Kaname._

**88888**

April the 29th, seven magical girls sit inside the vast barrier of one Homura Akemi. They are tense enough that one small unidentified sound will send them to an aggressive reflex. Sayaka peers from the tail of her eyes to where Kyouko and Yuma sit. The green girl is munching happily to a hamburger while sitting on Kyouko's lap as Kyouko strokes her hair absent-mindedly. They both, however, are alert to the new faces. Kirika growls at them, while Kyouko relents by gnashing her teeth. It seems that those two still have some bad blood between them. Mami and Oriko look at the display with disapproval.

Surrounding a large spread of Mitakihara map, they watch closely as Homura paces in her circles, smoothing any possible creases that she might forgotten. Seemingly satisfies with her strategy, she takes her a large red marker and draws a large circle over the hospital, the downtown, and the overpass.

"Walpurgisnacht will appear in this area, just before the river." Mami frowns.

"What about in the hospital? They are one of those who aren't being evacuated in the storm, right?"

"In a way, they are lose-cause." Before Sayaka could interrupt, Homura holds up a hand to silent her, "But that's just the Walpurgisnacht's first appearance. I have prepared my first attack as the diversion so the battle will be engaged in the less dense location. This way, we can prevent many casualties."

She then drags her marker from the circle to the industrial area beyond the river, which she then marks with a large X.

"I will attack her first to push her into the position, so don't get in my way just yet or you might struck by a stray attack. The first salvo would do some collateral damage, but that's it. Once Walpurgisnacht in the position, by then we can strike her to our hearts content."

Homura pulls out seven colorful flags in their respective color and arrange it on the map. Three flags; blue, red, and black, are in a triangle position blocking the planned position of Walpurgisnacht from the main part of the city.

"The heavy-hitters, prepare yourself in these positions. Walpurgis will launch her counterattack after the salvo. Your cue to attack the Witch is the explosion from the factory's warehouse that I've been planted C4 in, so there's no way to miss it. Watch out for the familiars, they usually spawned from Walpurgisnacht's attack. Sayaka!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You're the only one who don't have a complementary power in direct fight and we can't have you shutting out the pain. Will you be okay attacking her head on?" she answers with a firm nod and pounds her chest.

"Don't worry, I learned some neat tricks from Kyouko and Mami-san. I can keep some distance from the enemies if situation calls it."

"I hope so."

She then puts the purple and the yellow ones far away from each other, flanking the right and left sides of the first three flags but slightly behind them. And finally puts the last two, the green and the white at the back of the all those flags.

"Mami and I will support you from you side, while Oriko and Yuma take the back of the line. You three will take on Walpurgis directly as we keep the familiars and many counterattack from you. Keep the telepathy channel open. Oriko will send her precognition through telepathy, but it will difficult for her to keep up with so many people without support. That's why you will help us."

She directs the question to none of the magical girls. From the shadow of the scarce furniture in that hall, Kyubey steps out of his hiding.

"…Are you including me into your plan, Homura Akemi."

"It's not like I want to, but you can be useful as an operator. So yes, I have to ask for your help. To be honest, I can understand the stress to keep up the visions and sending them. I'm easing her burden."

"And why I should help you? If you turn into Witch when you fight Walpurgisnacht, then it's more advantageous if I don't do anything to help you."

"We will kill ourselves before we can turn. That's one of the first things with had agreed of."

"…Deviant to the end, huh?"

"Remember that Walpurgis' Grief Seed is coveted because it can absorb so many grieves. Imagine that Grief Seed falls to your paw. Imagine the power you can convert from that single Grief Seed…"

"Threat, real bodily harm, straight up murder, and now you sweet talk me? Are you that desperate, Homura Akemi?"

"I'm simply stating a truth, Incubator. I'm just starting to see that I can't really get rid of you. So why not?"

"… Very well, I will take part in your plan." He flicks his tail in a hypnotic wave, "Succeed or failed, entropy will be averted with your efforts. It worth a try, I guess. I'm glad we can agree in one thing."

Homura only snorts.

"If there's anyone who wounded in some way, immediately send them to the back of the line. Yuma, I trust you to keep alert for the injured and to protect Oriko from harm as she concentrates on sending her visions."

"Yes, ma'am!" this time, Kirika is the one who send her a meaningful stare.

"That's the basic. The real deal isn't always as planned, so prepare yourself for the unexpected. Is there anything you want to ask?"

Oriko clasps her hands under her chin before reaching for the purple flag. She fingers the small thing like she tries to feel Homura's own face on the flag.

"What make us sure that your salvo will send Walpurgisnacht to the fixed position? It's quite a distance away from the city to the industrial sector, after all. If your attack doesn't make it, what should we do then?"

The black-haired girl wordlessly gives the prophet a sheet of paper. Everyone try to have a peek, but the content looks very intricate and has really small handwritten texts. But from Oriko's widen eyes, it must be something big.

"I can't believe you can go down this deep to protect that girl… and to the fact that JSDF isn't arresting you yet. This is a really serious rendition of Rube Goldberg Device, Homura-kun; I just can't imagine just how many timelines you went through to make sure every contraption will go according to their roles."

"Actually, I'm just using models for the plan. I can't guarantee that plan will go as smoothly, but I'm quite proud of my design. Let us pray that my plan isn't a dud… eh?"

Standing behind the black-haired beauty, Sayaka stares down at her. Hand rising, she gives a hard slap to her shoulder, knocking a breath out of her lungs. She grins good-naturedly.

"Hei, we can't have you hesitate now, can we? It's almost the time; we all are depending on you."

Homura looks up at the blue-haired girl with slight indignant, before slowly combs her long hair to her ear and chuckles mostly to herself.

"… You're right. I guess you deserve some rest. Skip school tomorrow and don't come out of the house for the entire day. Reserve everything you can for the big day, sleep it out or something but don't come out of the house."

"Yes, ma'am!" the other six chorus.

"Meeting dismissed. Good night everyone."

It doesn't take long for them to empty the house. Even after several times walking inside the endless white hall, they still feel uncomfortable to the alien space. Every one of them except for Kyubey. The Incubator watches after his mysterious contractee as she paces around the house, collecting several eating utensil, food, and… cat bowls?

Filling both bowls with cat food and putting one in front of Kyubey, Homura looks at the alien organism expectantly. If he could do it, he would shrugs at the gesture. Accepting the invitation, Kyubey eats the food. Now filling the second bowl, Kyubey notices that Homura seems to space out a little before jolting back almost seamlessly.

"What are you thinking, Homura Akemi?"

"I'm thinking why my fate is becoming this way. I don't really remember life before becoming a Puella; I don't even know what I should do after I succeed defeating Walpurgisnacht. Spend my entire life for that day; I forget how to be a real human. Will I go to college? Or even getting married and having family? Feels almost whimsical for me…"

"It can't be helped, that's the price of the contract. You should know it more than anyone else."

"I know. It's just… is there no other way for us? To make it more fair in our way…"

"… I won't say it's impossible."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a way for you to make the system more… merciful like one of my old contractee said. There's a chance, but the effort put into it that makes it almost impossible. Almost, but not completely. Do you know how the Incubator became as advanced as we are now? It's because there aren't any natural predator for us."

"Natural predator?"

"Predator for emotion-based organism, to be exact."

"Wait… are you telling me that there's something other than Witches that feed on human's misery?"

"Yes."

"I think I see what you mean. So there's a natural predator for the emotion-based creatures, and that predator is somehow pushed back by the Witches that you created from the contract."

"Yes. Like a food chain, the balance between the prey and the predator is in the state of equilibrium, where the prey reproducing in a pace that the predator can devour without losing food too significantly. But in the system where the predator doesn't have its own predator, the prey will quickly go scarce and extinct. That's the system before us, the Incubators, interfered."

"By creating the contract, you created a natural predator for the predator, keeping the prey from completely extinct… So that's what you meant that humanity will be still living in caves if Incubators weren't coming to Earth; humanity just doesn't have chance to advance because they always preyed by some invisible foes that they can't comprehend."

"That is correct, and that's why making your situation 'merciful' is almost impossible. Clearing this world from the Witches, and cultivating that ancient predator enough so the Puellae Magi can still surviving from their spoil… it's quite difficult. Not to mention that you already have you mind and hands full with the Walpurgisnacht."

"Yes… that's really unfortunate…"

Homura clicks her tongue three times. The call is answered by a black cat who finds its way in from one of the window. Its coat is soaked, Homura doesn't realize that it's raining outside. Hoping that her comrades have some umbrella on their person, she puts the second bowl in front of the cat who immediately on it. the cat eats, Kyubey eat, and Homura furiously dries the cat. Somehow, they sitting in a same room without any act of hostility from both sides isn't that awkward of a situation. God forbids; she's actually making peace with the Incubators.

Above them, watching with narrowed eyes and thin-lipped frown, a figure stands between the intricate clockworks and iron stairs of the hall. A hand grips the railing, slightly shimmering like mirage.

**Chapter End**

**Walpurgisnacht battle in the next chapter.**


	5. Mitakihara City

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_The play stops on Walpurgisnacht, and the earth does not turn even once more. The story will not change. Tomorrow, and the day after, is the night of Walpurgis._

**88888**

_5 September 2025, Northern Japan Militia Force_

_The Demons have breached the last line of defense like hot knife to butter approximately 24 minutes ago at 2 pm. The last soldiers in the barrack are huddling in the corner like mice, trembled by fear of their own death. _

_Lieutenant was ordering me to write this last log, which I think very unnecessary as we all going to die anyway, to record the event of our last stand._

_This is not fair._

_I know we're warring against something that we know jackshit of, but it still isn't fair._

_I just turned eleven two days ago, and I promised my mother I will go home in the weekend._

_Yet, here I am, staring at my demise like so-_

Another explosion tore the building and shook the ground under the boy's feet, unbalanced him like a babe. He clumsily gathered his only comfort, his standard factory made gun. His hands rattled the gun, muzzle pointed at the emerging figures in toga. Balding men's heads, individually as large as a small car, turned and stared at their pitifully tiny adversaries with their pixelized eyeless face.

Yells of battle and orders screaming jargons that he doesn't really understand went through his left ear to his right ear, leaving only a loud unintelligible hum in his skull. He was used with it; when something, usually Demons, kicks the anthill, organization and order meant nothing in the panicked frenzy of these amateur soldiers. So why bother listening?

'Survive', his father always says it every day before they both go to their respective battalion. They fought a losing war. He often wonders why they even tortured themselves by surviving. Humanity was already torso deep in their extinction marsh; further struggles only accelerate their damnation. Not fighting back also leads death, mind you, but at least by the time the grim reaper ferries their soul to the other side, they are perfectly realizing their fate.

But humanity still fought back, and each of death leaving a haunted fear and regret in each of their faces. It was ugly, their faces were ugly. There's no peace in their death.

Why he lifted his weapon to the Demons, why he pulled the trigger and sprayed his ammo to said Demons' general direction, he confused of it for long time. He was born in this hell, holding guns a moment after he could walk and started to shoot Demons before he could speak properly. It was out of necessity, not because he wanted to. But more often than not, he would watch his comrades die painfully while he himself survived.

People said it's because his father wasn't a warrior, and he was born to inherit his lame's bones. He was tired of hearing it. He doesn't cut for being a warrior but he wasn't a coward either. Coincidence, that's the reason, really. A simple luck on his behalf. That's also why his lieutenant ordered him to write the log; because he would definitely survive to write it.

But this time, his luck is finally running out. The towering shadows swallowed his being. His eyes started to look for an escape route.

Until a giant bright blue beam engulfed all the Demons.

The boy opened his blinded eyes, now wide from witnessing the show. Where the Demons stood, there are several black cubes that they left behind in their death. He hesitantly turned to his savior, dreading the sight because he at least having an idea of who had power strong enough to destroy Demons easily.

A girl, looked few years older than him but might older than that, walked calmly to collect her spoil. Blue hair and eyes peeked from inside a slit, framed by slightly rusted full body suit of armor and strange three-eyed crown. Dark blue cape draped over her shoulders and hid almost all of her body under it except for a skirt made of chains that was ornamented and stylized to look like multi-colored scales.

But those eyes were the thing that he seemed to be lured into the most. Blue eyes that looked ordinary if not for the black sclera that surrounded the irises, creating an in-built death glare effect even though she didn't show anything but impassiveness from what her posture could tell. He knew what those eyes meant.

She's a Witch.

What is a Witch doing here? Or more importantly, what should he do? 'Witches are enemies', that phrase was drilled into his head since he was small. They were man-eaters and then left all the Demons in this world to destroy the remaining humanity after humans drove them out. His hands again rattled the gun, slowly aiming for the Witch's head. Would he brave or heartless enough to kill his savior?

The Witch, to his disbelieves, scooped the cubes and put them close to her chest. Specks of darkness drained from her being as the rust on her armor disappeared. She then threw the cubes carelessly behind her back, resulted in the boy's startled yell. The cubes should be disposed in an intricate procedure or the Demons would be revived.

But those cubes suddenly vanished in thin air. Now he was nervous, his scream finally warned the Witch of his presence if she didn't know about it the last time.

Clank-clank-clank, her greaves gave out metallic sounds as she closed in to him, who was too terrified to even crawl back. She raised her hand and he screwed his eyes tightly, preparing for the impending doom.

But instead, there was a warm glow washed over him. He curiously looked on himself, where the heat concentrated. His scraps and wounds were healed by some small circles that he couldn't make up what was written on them.

The Witch only raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? Never heard the Little Mermaid before or something?" she said in such a casual manner, voice echoed by the metal plate that covered her lower face… the Little Mermaid?

"A Witch!"

Sounds of shooting filled his ears as the Witch screeched and dropped him to the concrete to escape. He tried to give a chase, but his comrades were restraining him. 'Don't go alone when you meet a Witch, she will tear you apart in no time!' they would say. That was… a greatest bullcrap that he heard today. That Witch had just saved everyone and everything in this fortress.

It doesn't make any sense, though. Why would a Witch help him? Or for that matter, why would a Witch appear in this world?

He then caught a sight of the logbook. Frozen in place like for eternity, he grasped the book and started writing.

**88888**

April the 30th 2011, Kyouko stared out of Mami's apartment window as she absentmindedly gulping as glass of milk. The trace of storm already appeared since morning, covering Mitakihara with dark nuance that left no chance for Amaterasu to interfere with the eve of Walpurgis. People were still going along with their schedule until the afternoon, when the storm warning alarm went off.

Just like in the plan.

But Kyouko knew better.

If everything goes according the plan, then it's the finishing touch that will go wrong. If it doesn't according to plan, then it isn't going to be according to plan. The universe always found a way to screw up people's plans one way or another, after all.

Seriously, screw the plan. The only reason why she still in her short and sweat shirt and not in her combat clothes was because Homura was very sure with her calculation. Nevertheless, she still hesitated with that dark-haired girl. If she calculated the possibility to the last detail then why in the world does she still in this self-imposed hell, failed every single time?

The circumstance of her failure was also very fishy. Failed unless she has some allies no matter how much explosive she threw to the Witch's face? Like something stacked everything against her.

Still, there were seven of them, and each was strong in their own way. One could blacken out the 'failed without allies' thing from the list.

Kyouko sighed.

"Everything is so blue…"

At least it was peaceful enough…

*BANG* *BANG*

…or not.

"Open up! It's me!"

"…Sayaka?"

Kyouko run up to open the door, but Mami already beat her there. Sayaka's face was flustered red from running and trying to stifle her tears. The motherly magical girl was concerned and opened the path for her without question until she felt comfortable with her tea. Kyouko had none of those considerate gestures

"What the hell happen to you? Shouldn't you resting for the night's event?"

"I… I really need to get away from my house right now…" she blurted out.

**88888**

"Hey, Kyouko…"

"Hum…?"

"Do you believe that people can't easily shed their label?"

"… what kind of question is that?"

"Label… whether it's from other's opinion of them, or what their heritage made them, or what their shameful past action they did."

"You're talking about something that we all should have understand, Miki-san." Mami interjected, "Even though our status as magical girls is disclosed only for those who know the truth, it still a label that we can't ever let go… if it's what you meant."

"Well, I understand about that one. It's just… I don't know."

Sayaka combed her hair messily with her finger, feeling each strands between the digits with her enchanted sense. Her hair started to get too long for her liking, making it easily got messy with slight provocation. She envied many things from her friends, including things like hairdo.

But what she envied the most…

"_Hey, Mom. Which one I should wear?"_

"_Anything's fine. Now, hurry up getting dressed."_

_Since then, she wore the yellow ones. It was better if she doesn't attract that many attentions…_

She envied Madoka's mother, whom was a great career woman and still had time for her children and husband. Confident with herself, outspoken, had strong bond with her family, she was perfect in her eyes since that day when Madoka brought her to her house. She envied to have a mother like her and envied to be just like her.

There was no way for her to be like Junko Kaname.

Because she was of a dirty blood. A label that can never shed.

'Can I be a real me without people reminding me of where I was from?'

**88888**

Madoka watched another bird formation passed her class window. Even animals were migrating in the eve of Walpurgisnacht. They said animals had stronger sense in danger, and now it was more visible than ever.

Had ignored every lesson today to watch the dark cloud from her window, Madoka had no focus in mind other than the prayer for her friends' safety after this night. Couldn't do anything but giving support from the sideline, she did many self-reflection. Mostly about how useless she was in this whole conflict.

But she also noticed many things about herself. Like how her eyes went from pinkish to muted brown and those ugly bag appeared under them. She was losing sleep from her worry over her friends.

There was her other friend, glaring her own concern from the seat beside her. She realized that her concern wasn't matter, even though she appreciated the gesture. When the gesture had no meaning in the overall scheme of things, it was meaningless nevertheless.

She chuckled to herself. Since when did she become this bitter?

Does she better in that overall scheme of things? She's the X mark that everyone chased after, that everyone lusted for. But is there really a place for her other than being a MacGuffin?

_Magical girls will eventually turn into Witches, trapped in their own wish and cursed humanity for eternity. Just what I should do when the time's come, Madoka? I am the weakest girl here, I'll definitely turn Witch first of us all._

_This is my fault. I just can't let go of you. I'm the worst, to let this going out of even Incubators' control._

_Kaname-san, please understand. We all want the best. It's just… the best thing we can do to prevent the Salvation Witch's birth is to prevent your contract. Mikuni-san had sent her ultimatum, saying that she'll hold off your murder and work together with us as long as Akemi-san can do just that._

_Hey, Madoka. I know you're a smart kid, so I'm asking you something. Think everything carefully, 'kay? I know you desperate to be useful, but in all the seriousness… I'm not going to say you shouldn't make contract unlike the others, you know. But it's better if you don't._

The bell rang as she in a moment flinched at the sound. She fled the classroom in attempt to avoid Hitomi's question. Hushed whispers could be heard from around her. But of course, almost everyone on her circles of friends' skipped school at the same time while they're already notorious for disappearing without notice.

People would eventually realize there's something wrong with them.

A group of delinquents, or even full blown gangsters, she heard rumors. Everyone's curious and their only information source was her. Hiding secrets was difficult, especially if there's no one who could back her up or bail her out of the situation.

Then…

She saw that familiar curtains of black hair just rounding the corner.

A predictable result, really. She chased after it.

She could see it, the girl wearing Mitakihara Middle School uniform glided over the glass floor, seemingly deliberate to guide her away from people's prying eyes. She chased her; she chased her as fast as she could. But the distance between them never decreased.

Until that girl finally stopped. Madoka bended over to her knee, trying to gather her breath.

She's on the roof. She blocked off her surrounding when she run after that girl. It was quite strange, to be that tunnel-visioned.

That girl was facing her when she raised her head. That familiar flickering mirage.

"I thought Homura-chan said that you can't leave the barrier."

"I can't. That's why I brought some of the barrier with me."

Madoka squinted a little. There was indeed a thin white mist outlining the ghost. Now that she caught the ghost, she suddenly doesn't know what she should say next. But the ghost immediately cut her thought short.

"You know… before I'm explaining for what reason I do something this energy-draining, I want to make something clear to you first."

The next sentence sent her blood to sub-zero.

"I hate you. All my hatred for you."

She didn't know what to say. She fought back the tears.

But then, something clicked in her head.

"Homura-chan said that she made you by-"

"Ripping everything that might slow her mission down from herself? Yes. Everything, from anger, sadness, despair, and even her trademark shy girl persona. She ripped some of her personality and emotion to slow down her Witch transformation, everything that she deems 'weak'. She's that stubborn about the whole 'saving you' thing."

"So… hating is just how you are?"

"It's quite frustrating to swing between personalities, really. And she's not static; every time she goes back, she changes her personality. I hate you as much as I want to be your friend, seek for you approval, and fangirling over you. But this endless repetition nonsense starts to get ridiculous, and I know you're the only one who has capability to stop it."

The ghost sat on the bench and gestured her to do the same. Madoka did just that question. She stole a glance; it was surreal to see the same braided visage of that shy girl persona now talking with confidence five times of her appearance could show. The ghost sighed, leaning to her arms behind her back.

"What do you think of the Walpurgisnacht?" she said, still staring at the dark cloud overhead.

"I think… it doesn't make sense. If Homura-chan calculates everything, then why she couldn't defeat her?" Madoka then played with her fingers, "Do you think there's something that she missed?"

"She's too stubborn, I told you. There's indeed a reason why she could never defeat that Witch without help, preferably yours. And the thing that prevents her to see it is her denial. If she sees that reason, she will surely turns Witch right here and there."

"Everything is all about turning Witch in the end, huh? I always like to think…"

"What?"

"If Witches don't exist… but it's the same as letting those sacrifices the girls made in vain. Destroying their soul… it sounds terrible. It's like even in deaths, they have nothing nice."

Madoka bended down and buried her face on her hands, thus not seeing a newly-formed grin on the ghost's face.

"Go on…"

"A way to change the system. I have enough power to wish everything that I want, right? Any wish isn't a problem. It's just how to change magical girl's food chain in the way where the girls don't have to be the Witches without destroying their soul…"

"A bit convoluted, don't you think? Changing the system is okay, but if there are too many conditions, the end result will have too many loopholes and thus, more unpredictable results."

"So, something simple and straightforward… there are some wishes that I have in mind. But is it enough? …hey, why do you think the magical girls turning into Witches?"

Of all things the ghost had expected the girl in front of her to ask, this thing wasn't in the list. It gave her a nonchalant shrug.

"Regret of why their wish isn't going like how they imagine and despair that follows, I guess? The reason can be vary to each person. Though, when you think about it, those who have their Soul Gem corrupted aren't capable of thinking straight."

"You think people can change their thought if they just calm down enough to think about that?"

It couldn't hold back a small chuckle. She was the one whose goal was to goad this girl into the next stage with questions. For her to successfully lure it to switch role was quite impressive. Even at the time where apocalypse was just around the corner, she was calm and collected unlike most of the girls.

"I guess…"

"Then, I have a plan. A bit dangerous, but if it's going smoothly, I'll have everything under control. Maybe some safety pins if you willing to give them." The ghost gave her its deepest frown.

"…What do you want from me, little girl?"

**88888**

April the 30th 2011, 19.06, half an hour after evacuation had been executed. Just like how that ghost had said to her. Walpurgisnacht's curtain would be raised in two hour; until that time, she trapped in the shelter under more than her parents' watchful eyes.

If she pretended to look at one direction, from the tail of her eyes she could make out some shimmering mirage, round and following her every moves. No doubt, Oriko's crystal eyeballs. The ghost warned her to not move from the shelter until the time where the battle becomes too hectic for her to keep up her watch, or risking those same crystal balls to murder her on the spot.

Nothing to do but to wait…

**88888**

This is it… her last chance.

She had promised to herself, this is going to be the last.

Wind plays with her hair. She just combed it carelessly once before raising her shield. Her trusted weapons fell from the hammer space.

Sixty four RPG-7 and AT-4 loaded and prepared to use. Homura pulled out a Howa type 89, her favorite M249 Minimi, and a Rheinmetall MG3 with its ammo still hanging to the shield. She shouldered them all on her left before hesitated. She then pulled another weapon, a familiar yellow pattern on black for those who work close to nuclear power plant at its tip.

She really was insane; stole a casing from black market at the start of this timeline and assemble by hand her own W54. If not for her magic-infused immune and metabolism system, she might be dead from her mishaps with this nuclear warhead.

She gently lowered the Davy Crockett on its tripod, careful to not exploding it anywhere other than the Walpurgisnacht. She made this one just in case actually. Using a nuclear weapon is quite overboard even for her.

Staring at the thing made her realized something. Like on its own accord, her hand went from her forehead, the base of her throat, left shoulder, right shoulder, and ending the routine with a kiss to her pointer finger's knuckle. When the last time she prayed again?

"I don't know you're a Christian."

Homura turned to the voice. Kyouko crouched on a lamppost, spear shouldered carelessly.

"But, seriously. You're a nutjob, you know. You stole all of these?"

"You're late. Back to your post."

"Hai, hai, Ojou-san." Kyouko said with a laugh. She jumped high and far to the industrial district, waiting for her cue.

Homura sighed. She raised her shield to her eye level. Her sand almost run out, she only has six more one minute timestops. Six, she could do it if she doesn't use her power on the familiars.

The mortars lining both sides of the river, silhouettes of Surface-to-Ship missiles and Harpoons were visible from under the water, the next lines of AT-4s waiting to be used.

Preparation is ready.

**88888**

*click* *click* *click*

"Hey, Little Mermaid, whatcha doing?"

"Making sure that I won't screw up in battle. I actually never use this trick at the heat of a fight, so I'm not really sure I can do it."

Sayaka gripped her cutlass's hilt and pushed the hilt down. Instead of the hilt bending, the blade came off the crossguard a little before shooting out of the hilt like missile. The blade connected and lodged to a wall to its base.

They both stare at blade puncturing the wall for awhile, until Kirika grew bored and said, "That's it?"

A moment the sentence left her lips, the wall exploded. They both covered in dust, sending them to coughing fits.

"I still need to train the trigger… most of the time it ends up a dud."

Sayaka held the cutlass in inverted, with the space where the blade was supposed to facing the ground. The space oozed liquid metal out, moving and shaping itself like living mercury until it made a perfect replacement of the blade to it every contour.

"Fifteen blade, that's the maximal I can conjure without taking an extra attention. Mami-san's right, materializing separate individual weapons really exhausted my concentration. So it's better if I just replace the blade than to waste magic making a new sword."

"You're a 'Blue', but you fight like a 'Yellow'. I guess My Savior is really your teacher." Kirika mused.

"Eh? 'Blue'? 'Yellow'?"

"It's Archetype. Classification of magical girls' power, you see. You're a 'Blue', and I'm a 'Black'. Get it?"

"I… don't think so. Unless you're talking about our outfits…"

"Ask the other veterans when it's all over. The point is, you're a 'Blue'. The 'Blues' aren't afraid of damage even more so than the other Archetypes. I'm a 'Black', and My Savior shot me through my knee in our first meeting. I still could kick a wall down with that leg even though I'm not switching off the pain."

"So, I can absorb more damage than others?" Sayaka frowned, "Hey, give me a break here. I'm still a newbie, using my power to its maximum is still beyond me."

"Up to you, Little Mermaid. This is a battle than even My Love can get hurt; it's better to use everything we- eh?"

Thin mist rolled from the direction of the river. As tall as their knee, Sayaka slightly shivered at the cold caress on her stocking.

"It's here already?"

"_Half an hour faster than Homura-kun's prediction."_ Oriko called through telepathy, _"But no matter, is everyone in position?"_

"Kyouko is-"

"Present!" the devil called out from her roosting place on roof above them. Sayaka threw her an annoyed glance.

"Everyone's here." She deadpanned.

They watched the cloudy sky distorted into lacy theatre curtain. A giant magic crest appeared on said curtain, lotus leaves surrounding tomoes symbols moving in a hypnotic routine. Inside the magic circle…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Welcome to the Walpurgisnacht.

**88888**

A green elephant had just stepped on one red and black doll who just walking cutely between her legs. The larger familiars pulling on the flagged chain, drum ringing in her ears, skyscrapers pulled out of their foundation. She doesn't even wait until the Witch finished attaching her gears when she reached for her shield.

Two red eyes, flashing angrily in contrast of dull grey, a mark as everything went grayscale.

'No mercy…'

Each smoke trail of the launched rockets made her eyes watery.

'Push her to the position…'

Loud clank of the discarded casings breaking the concrete made her gritted her teeth.

'And destroy!'

She ignored the pain and run down to the river.

**88888**

"So huge…"

Sayaka watched in awe as the Witch being bombard by an endless barrage of explosive and pushed to their position with anti-ship harpoons.

"_Everyone, familiar summoning in 6… 5… 4…"_

The Witch crashed into the storage house and engulfed in explosive fire. Sayaka nodded at the warning, preparing her sword and raising it with both hands over her head.

"… _1…"_

Black sludge shot out of the fire and debris.

"Heyyaah!"

She brought down her sword in an overhead slash, intercepting the sludge and cutting the forming familiars. Kirika clicked her tongue, warning the knight that it isn't over. The remaining of the sludge gathered, creating blasphemous tumor-like creatures. Incomplete limbs, incomplete features, all were going for the kill.

Sayaka gathered her bearing, but the sludge made the ground too slippery for her boots. She cursed loudly as she saw a blob regenerated enough for an arm that shot out with intent to gouge her eye out.

High-pitched screech of Kirika's claws dragging on the concrete warned the blob to jump away from those claws, dripping slime everywhere. Sayaka dug her heels on the concrete, defending herself from the other sludge's sword slash with her own.

"_Concentrate your attack on the Witch, we're handling the familiars."_ Homura's voice called out from telepathy.

The frontliners summoned their personal magic crest under their feet and propelled themselves to fiery ruin of the storage house, gunshots ringing unseen between the night mist and blurry background.

Kyouko smirked at the fallen Witch, dress and head awkwardly twisted in the small square of a foundation. As she went pass, large modular spears burst out of the ground behind her, slithering like snakes and swooped down to pierce the Witch in place.

Walpurgisnacht has none of it. She spun like a top, sending debris to their general direction. Kyouko and Sayaka dug their hands and feet on their emergency-made crest to stop their high-speed launch, one of Kyouko's spears coiled around them to protect them from stray debris.

The rest of the spear pinned the Witch. Jammed gears let out loud screeches, making Kirika's ears bled. She forced her way, dodging, slashing, kicking everything that got between her and her target. Eyes wild, her scream was like a beast. She dragged her claws across the Witch's face, leaving deep marks on her lips. The Witch retaliated by spitting fire and molten iron that engulfed her entirely.

"Goddammit! She's crispy!"

"_Kirika!"_

"Don't worry, my spear took the brunt damage. But seriously, who the hell she thinks she is? Leeroy Jenkins?"

"_Do you think you can transport her to the back of the line?"_

"My spear can."

One of the spears scooped up Kirika's body and slithered back, but said wounded magical girl got up and jumped down the spear, again standing beside her fellow frontliners. Sayaka wrinkled her nose as the smell of burnt clothes and skins reached her.

"I still can fight!"

Kirika exclaimed loudly. Kyouko spat out a string of curses at her.

"Kirika-san! Try to be more careful in the next attack." Sayaka murmured as she directed her healing spell to the burned skin of her arms, "You're taking up my resources."

"Heh!"

She jerked her arms downward, re-summoning her claws.

**88888**

Yuma gripped her staff hard. Oriko took notice of it.

"What is it?"

"I always hear that this Witch is the strongest. But if the Witches are born from magical girl's despair, doesn't that mean Walpurgis is crying right now?"

"… You're right. If you put it that way, her laugh starts to sound like choked sobs."

"Homura-nee-chan knows about it?"

"Even if she knew, her sympathy for the Witch must be already run out."

The prophet caught a sight of some familiars finished reassembling themselves. Three at the middle and five at the front.

"Familiars incoming. Homura-kun, your 6 o'clock."

She saw Homura turned and shot the familiar at her back, but something was wrong, she just knew it.

Homura frowned, the familiar only took some steps back after she shot it right on its chest. Those bullets should be enough to kill it, she thought.

The familiar, a young woman with a slightly boyish face, shrugged its cape away so it would be hooked to its larger right shoulder pad. Eyeless, but she knew it still could see her. The familiar drew its sword, a large two-edged sword but with sharp handguard that could be doubled as knuckle blade. It held the sword parallel to its face with one hand, the circle inside the triangle at the base of the blade suddenly opened. A slit-pupil eye stared back at her, unblinking.

"… Virginia, the Armor Witch."

Virginia took the first strike.

Mami was in a bad shape. Ganged up by two familiars really put her in disadvantage. Oriko's crystal balls gave her some support but it didn't mean that much when the opponent is specialized in swallowing attack like sponge.

The familiar at her right giggled, pigtails bobbing up and down. Mami almost immediately recognized it just by whom possession those candy-headed wand and long, dragging sleeves were. The other familiar, a small girl in cat-faced hood, opting to watch her in a relative silent.

"Looks like you want to settle things with me."

The Charlotte-phantom dramatically swished her cape, sending sludge balls to Mami's direction. Unlike Walpurgis', these ones unable to curve their way to chase the target. Mami sidestepped the attack easily and returned the strike with a volley of her shots. The cat hood familiar slipped pass the bullets and crouched just before Mami.

Six boney fingers burst out of her back, two of which pierced Mami right at her thighs. She winced, big mistake. Charlotte dashed pass her emergency barrier with bared teeth. Mami's shots were missed because of the pain, but threads grew from the bullets were able to bind the familiar's feet in place.

It let out a scream of frustration, before spat out her caterpillar body twice her size from her mouth. Mami shot another bullet thread, again restricting the Desert Witch's visage as she tried to fend off wild swings of the Cat Witch's phantom. Another barrage of Oriko's crystal balls to her rescue, breaking the fingers off from its back.

Mami limped away from her adversary, pulling the bone fragments from her thighs.

Charlotte already spat out another body, hand waving its candy wand, sending an energy orb, looked more compact than its other attack, to Mami's general direction. Mami swept her hands, conjuring half dozen muskets in front of her.

Their attacks met.

The bullets pierced through the orb, but wasn't exactly dissipating it.

The attacks connected to their respective targets.

**88888**

The frontliners had their back pressed against each other. Faces drenched in sweat and blood, they were at their limit.

The last two remaining familiars stood away from them. They seemed to deliberately sic the other three just to tire them out. Kyouko stabbed her spear to ground as support, realizing something horrible.

"This is crazy! We're not fighting familiars, we're fighting magical girls!" she screamed both on top of her lungs and through their telepathy hub.

They attacked with strategy, their moves weren't wasted, they even improvized their unique signature attacks, Homura didn't want to believe it, but those familiars were definitely stronger than how she remembered it.

Just what's going on here?

At the highest vintage point of Mitakihara City, two girls watched over the spectacle with different interest in mind.

"Akagi-san… maybe we should-"

"It's just started, Kaga-chan~"

"But they already-"

"If you want to worry, you should worry about them."

The timid girl followed where Akagi's finger was pointing. Her eyes widened.

"Normals? What are they doing here?"

"Watching the show, of course. But unlike us, they might not really appreciate it. Imagine what the world say if it sees this secret."

"S-Shouldn't it your job to prevent it from happening?" Kaga said in disbelieve.

Akagi clicked her tongue and wagging her finger.

"If they survive the Walpurgisnacht, maybe it really is fate for our existence to be revealed. If they could tell the tale, doesn't that mean they are protected by God Himself? And if it's His decreed, then what is our right to deny it?" she turned back to the industrial district, just the moment when the Witch threw a building to her opponents, "If you want to do it, then go ahead and stop them."

Her eyes went back and forth between her sempai and those girls running away from stray debris. She wants to prevent the exposure of magical girls' existence, she really does. But when she sees Akagi staring at her with those expectant eyes, she knows that she couldn't say no.

'Akagi-san is testing me, she's testing me whether or not I can defy her. Whether or not I can defy other people's way on me.'

Kaga trembled at the inner conflict…

And slumped down on her seat.

Akagi blew a strand of hair away from her face.

"Kaga-chan, that was anticlimactic."

"I'm sorry, I really am no good."

"Don't worry, don't worry~" she sang with a squint-eyed smile, "If everything goes wrong, you can always depend on your good old An Akagi here."

"Hehehe~"

_**To be continued…**_

**88888**

Yeah, the familiars of Walpurgis are magical girls' copy. Their physical appearance mostly my drawings of the Witches' personifications in DeviantArt, though some of them, like Stacy, are not yet being drawn but the concept already in mind.

Now the self-promotion has been dealt with, I'd like to use this note to explain what the Archetype actually is.

A classification of magical girl, for short. It's just how the power of magical girls is used in battle, using colors as the classes.

There are five colors; Blue, Red, Yellow, White, and Black. The color usually matching with their color theme, but isn't always especially with those whose color is subtractive of the RYB.

_Blue: _

Strong defensively and have power to take much punishment, usually from self-regeneration or inherited ability to ignore injuries without losing connection with the Soul Gem. Usually have a land-bound main attack method or short ranged weaponries.

_Red:_

Hit fast and hit hard, the main spearhead of the team. Have many supporting attributes and the one who is most likely to develop their base magic. Have a great survival instinct but also easily succumb to their bloodlust.

_Yellow:_

Jack of all trade. The category is very versatile and has the most power manifestation variation. Not as strong as the specialists 'Blue' and 'Red', but they can sacrifice some attribute in one area to strengthen the others.

_Black: _

This category has the short end of stick. Their power is significantly weakened because of its rule, circumstance of the wish, or self-restraint. Their main strength is their pragmatism and ruthless nature, mostly to cover those weaknesses.

_White:_

The 'Whites' are those whose powers are coveted by others, mostly because their power is deeply connected with 'violating one's concept', as in destroying an established rule of things. Fragile in direct combat and more suited in 'desk jobs'.

Can you guess which one is which?


	6. Walpurgisnacht

Every actors of the tale had all arrived, uneasily sat around the small tea table in the middle of rose garden that has a surprisingly good maintenance considering the state of disarray of the mansion itself. On one side, a young woman with aura of grace and poise slowly sipped her tea, seemingly unaffected by several hostile glares from the rest of the inhabitants.

The only sounds that can be heard from the place are soft clink of cups and saucers and labored breath of a wounded girl who had stubbornly refused to lay down her injuries to make sure the opposing side doesn't massacre her beloved when she averts her eyes in a second.

Impassively, two leaders of the sides stared down at each other.

"I never thought of you as someone who will bend for the Incubator's will. I guess I was wrong."

"Yes, you wrong," the black haired girl quickly retorted, eyes narrowed in indignant, "The reason why I didn't kill you just yet is not because the Incubator's price for your head."

"Then?"

"Don't pretend to not know what I'm talking about. You know that I won't let you, and I know that you know I know about what are you planning." Homura leaned on the palm of her hand and let out a small smirk, "But I think you will accept this one suggestion of mine."

Oriko frowned at the sudden change of her tone.

"What is that?"

"You will stop the Puellae Magi Massacre, stop your plan to kill Madoka, and you will join me in the Walpurgisnacht in a temporary truce. And after the Walpurgisnacht is over, I don't really care what would you do next as long as you don't get in my way."

"What?!"

Homura ignored the angry shout from the redhead, knowing fully-well that Mami was enough to restraint the charging magical girl. She stole a glance at the small green girl tugging at Kyouko's jacket; it's not like she doesn't understand why Kyouko was angry at the decision, she's making a truce with murderers and deceivers that made another one into monster like them. Oriko's eyes grew harder at the offer.

"And why would I do that?" instead of answering, Homura asked back.

"What if I can guarantee you that Madoka Kaname would never make her contract?"

"And how you can make that happen?"

"She's just like you, you know?"

That one sentence caught her off-guard.

"P-Pardon?"

"She loves this city. She will do anything to make sure that it won't be harm if she could help it. In that particular sense, you are alike." She calmly sipped her tea, "She would rather die than turning Witch, especially if it's as strong as Gretchen."

"Then?"

"She already knows about the eventual transformation of magical girls, which means that she understands just what kind trouble will rear its ugly head if she makes contract."

Oriko went silent, contemplating just about everything she would do and what she would never do. But it was only a moment before she acknowledged her lose.

Kyouko Sakura was enraged; the very reason why she agree to come is so she could stake the two of them's heads on her spear. She actually expected that they won't reach an agreement for both the black and white magical girl are having quite an ego, just so she could ransacked the place.

Seeing the small girl that she took under her wings tugging on her jacket, whispering that she doesn't regret her wish, made her even more agitate. She might be farming familiars, but she won't kill and lie if she could help it.

The alliance was shaky at best, with Kyouko always went all her way to be hostile. Though, Homura's vegetative state and Sayaka's breakdown after the Oblivion Witch's battle somewhat distracted her enough to be civil and giving the pair the trust to take care of Yuma in Kasamino. As her 'atonement' and to not further burden the Mitakihara territory, as Oriko put it.

But never Oriko Mikuni had expected that the Walpurgisnacht battle to be this severe. Even though they had tried to contain the battle in one district, the collateral damage was too high. From the nervous private telepathic link of Homura, she took it that the Walpurgisnacht was actually growing stronger in this timeline.

"This is bad…" Oriko Mikuni mused, before cringing at the extreme understatement of that sentence.

**88888**

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Face it, my dear sister. That your problems are nothing but because of yourself_

**88888**

It was hard to miss.

The giant bright explosion that could be seen from miles away, and the aftermath earthquake, was enough to make the citizens of Mitaihara pressing their face to the 10 centimeter glass window that separated them from the violent storm outside.

Madoka grabbed the railing tightly. It was cold to touch, not really helping her nervous sweat-drenched hands. Her eyes stole some glances behind her back, where Oriko's eyes were watching. They seemed to be distracted, but she has to make sure that those drones really had their attention on something else completely.

Madoka rocked in place, swaying softly to at least came her worry.

A hand tapped her shoulder, and in her surprised state of mind, she yelped and swung her arm to her assilant. That arm was caught by Hitomi's hand, slightly surprised at the reaction.

"I'm sorry, Madoka-san. I startled you." Realizing that she's not in danger, Madoka took a step back and bowed deeply to her friend.

"No, no... i'm sorry i was about to hit you."

Hitomi had that concerned look on her face before waving off the apology. She took a place beside Madoka and followed her example of gripping the railing.

"I didn't see Sayaka-san..."

Madoka said nothing at this.

"Do you think she still out there?"

Again she said nothing.

"You know something about it, don't you?"

"I had promised that I won't tell anyone."

"... I see."

Small creak of the hand tightened around the railing came up to her ears. Not looking up, Madoka put her hand above that white knuckle, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"It's not your fault, Hitomi-chan. It's noone's fault. But... i think it's better if you don't say anything about it when you meet Sayaka-chan again. Let her get throught it or something like that..."

"Do you think she still thinks that i'm her friend?" Hitomi gave the small girl a sad smile, "I don't want to lose her because of this."

"I'm sure that she won't think of you any different. It's Sayaka-chan, after all."

She then turned to look out of the windows. The rain poured down heavily, that she thought the glass windows were barely holding on. Each drop fell like whiplashes against the shelter, making a loud sound of pseudo shattering plastic fibers.

"But you're right; she still out there."

"...Then why we aren't calling for help yet?"

"Don't."

A short command that stopped Hitomi on her track. The green-haired girl hesitately peered behind her shoulder to Madoka, a little surprised at the amount of force put inside a word. Madoka only shook her head slowly.

"It's dangerous to go out right now. I-I'm sure she's save in her own shelter."

A lie, both of them knew that.

"Have faith in Sayaka-chan, okay?"

That sentence was put to reassure both of them. A not really successful attempt, but that was the only thing that she could do to make sure no one caught in the crossfire. Madoka doesn't know just how large would the battlefield be outside, but if she could at least prevent any one from getting out then she could be at ease knowing that she could help saving lives.

A faint voice echoed in Madoka's head, constantly whispering a soft command of staying put in shelter. The voice did nothing but slowly eroding her nerve to either staying put or walking outside by the time it was needed. It was a strange feeling, to be paralyzed by fear.

**88888**

Her lungs stung; the temperature was cold to the point of freezing but she sweated like in desert. She ignored them all to rip her skirt and using it as a makeshift bandage for her friend.

Her friend was right; she shouldn't do what she did. Now she put them both in trouble, nay, in danger. She was pressing the wound from an exploding window shard while back.

What they had seen was unbelievable. Real magical girls' fight.

But something was wrong.

She knows that from what she had learned from magical girl fight that it won't be as violent. No dismemberment, no combatants vomiting blood, no civilian casualty, and in the end status quo would be preserved with the threat neutralized.

Until they saw a family was crushed by a Lawson.

Driving a car, a family of four passed them in hurry. Must be late for the evacuation. They almost went around the corner when she heard the noise.

The horrible noise of something being ripped out from the concrete.

One moment, and the family car was flattened by a convenient store's foundation, their blood splattered her shoes.

Then, the sound of battle; a giant circus doll breathed fire at a girl, who only came out of the flame with minimum injuries. At one side, some girls, Mami was one of them, firing their weapon on some black things in shape of girl. The sight was horrible; blood flying everywhere from both sides of combatants and battle cries that sound almost inhuman-like, but she was there for that very reason. She filmed the entire thing with her 14th birthday present, only occasionally dodging stray debris from behind a building protection.

"Minami-chan…"

She turned at her friend. She was in better shape, but it doesn't mean that she won't need help. However, she could not go back now to call for help. She couldn't help it.

Magical girls are exist.

They exist and no one knows about them fighting against such a huge monster.

What will happen to them? Do they have a family? Are they worried about them?

Why should this responsibility become their burden?

It's not fair, for them to be unknown.

Another explosion. The building's window that they used as shield shattered above them. A large shard pierced her friend's leg. She only bit her lips hard; no scream, only a slight sheen of her eyes that warned her of her wound. Seeing the bleeding of the smaller girl, she immediately ripped her skirt to be used as bandage.

"Minami-chan?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring you here."

"No, I don't mean that…"

"W-What?"

"There are people, up there."

She pointed at the building's roof. Minami squinted her eyes to see it, but it was too foggy.

"A-Are they magical girls too?"

"I don't know. Maybe? I mean they don't seemed to be disturbed with all of this, though they also don't do anything about the fight."

"A neutral party?"

"How could they be neutral at time like this?"

Her friend suddenly shouted. She completely agreed. But seeing the first hand of just what they have to face everyday made her think that maybe the usual norms are not that acceptable for them.

"At least we save here…"

Minami said in hesitation, catching a glimpse of a pair of red lights behind the thin mist above her. Watching.

She felt a shiver down her spine.

**88888**

Sayaka looked up at the familiar in front of her, a silhouette of a knight with a sword as tall as it is, and readied. The familiar smirked, sharply tugging at the chain that it used as its sword belt and gripping the sword. A figure got between the familiar and Sayaka.

"Kyouko!"

"I got a really bad feeling about this one. Yer stay back, Sayaka, and try shoot that thing from afar."

"Oi, if I shoot my sword out, you'll also get hit."

"I'll be alright. Here it comes."

The familiar swung down its sword. Kyouko's spear took the brunt damage, but visibly pushed back. The sword was large, but its owner easily used it, with each swing felt like a semi-truck. Sayaka trembled at the sight. They were too close to each other, with the familiar always stepping near and locking its blade to Kyouko's. If she shot it, the explosion would get Kyouko with no doubt.

Now that she had stepped out of the range of the battle, it was too difficult to get inside again. It was too violent of a battle to interfere.

Kyouko gasped when a large arch of sword overhead slash smashed her spear, hands feeling numb just from trading blow. Her spear was too nimble against the sturdier weapon, making her incapable of truly damping the strength of her enemy's attacks.

'If only I can get inside its defense…'

Kyouko twirled her spear around her body, creating a defensive circle around herself. The rattling chain was like a snake's hiss, suddenly lashing after rearing back. The familiar sidestepped, avoiding the head and stabbed, no, shattering the chain links between the shafts. Kyouko widened her eyes; she's unarmed, a chance that the familiar doesn't wasted.

The familiar run toward her with a speed that should be in possession of someone with a large pauldron-gauntlet set and heavy greaves. Kyouko took a step back, in an effort to make a larger distance. It was too late. The familiar reared back its gauntlet-covered hand and punched Kyouko's face with a ruthless strength, all while Sayaka watched in horror.

"Urk!"

She rolled away, disoriented. The familiar already gave a chase; closer, closer, closer…

A blade pierced the familiar's side, misdirected its charge. Sayaka pushed the sword harder, sending them both tumbling on Mitakihara ruined street. The familiar only glanced at her in annoyance; it dug its feet on the concrete to break their slide, swinging its left arm and backhanding Sayaka away. It used the momentum of the backhand to punch the back of Sayaka's head to ground with its other hand, making sure to grind her face on the broken concrete before stopping. The blue haired swordswoman immediately went unconscious.

"Sayaka!"

Kyouko gritted her teeth, hands blindly gathering her spear segments. Putting together the broken link, she retracted the segments and pulled the chain back out as good as new. The ground shook. Large spears erupted out of under her feet.

There's no such thing as overkill against this one, Kyouko thought.

Not far from them, Kirika had a same opinion.

The red-blue pair's opponent was a really strong one, she almost disappointed at her own. It's not like the circus performer was a shoddy fighter, no. in fact, Kirika had her hands quite full with just the single familiar.

The familiar stretched its right leg upward like a ballerina, quickly twirling the stance into a flying kick.

The black magical girl ducked under the kick and shot her right elbow up to the familiar's knee, smiling at the sound of the joint breaking. What she doesn't expect was that the familiar's other leg to suddenly warp around the back of her neck and start strangling her with its thigh. Kirika roared angrily as her consciousness slowly slipping, claws blindly stabbing at the latching familiar. Black sludge dripped down from above her and stained her eyes enough to force her closing her eyes, but she doesn't care; destroy the enemy, destroy the enemy, destroy the enemy is the only one that matter.

She's the sword of Oriko Mikuni.

With a mighty roar, she dug her claws as deep as she could to the familiar's body and ripped the torso apart. The pieces flew to opposite directions and splattered into stains on walls. Kirika admired her masterpiece before focusing on her next target.

…

…

…

Blood exploded from her mouth.

She stared down at her torso, where a large blade sliced her left shoulder to her stomach, almost severing her spine. Sickening wet sound of her flesh separating muted her thud, still swearing with eyes wide open at the shadow familiar as she bled.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The familiar shouldered its weapon, focusing its attention at the rest of the fighters approaching fast at the notice of their teammates down by its hands. It smirked, sending a giant arch of strong gust from its sword swing. The incoming black magical girl changed her dive momentum with a flap of her bright white wings and avoided the gust, gently landing on the top of a building in front of the unnaturally strong familiar. Her eyes widened in recognition at the appearance of the magical girl that made up this one adversary.

"Hinata Makoto… I can't believe this, to be an opponent of the first Matriarch of Mitakihara who established the large and Witch-rich territory after the Great Eurasia Turf War in 1990." Homura laughed in a slight awe as the familiar gave her a small flourished bow in acknowledgement, "In several early alliterations, Mami-san talked about your accomplishments. They sound almost like a fairytale to me… I'm just hoping that we don't meet at this situation; it's not you that I have to face."

"Then let me accept this honor."

Both sides turned to the voice. Mami Tomoe stood between some buildings at the right of Homura. Her clothes were singed and her usual hat and drill hair were gone, leaving that blond curl flowed freely in respond of the storm winds. Muzzles of her musket were digging deep in the concrete, ready to be aimed and shot. Mami sighed in defeat.

"I think the Cat Witch familiar had bypassed me awhile ago."

"Don't worry; Yuma has taken care of it."

"Is that so?" Mami limped forward to stand at the very edge of the roof, a sound of building crashing down on said magical girl's position made her wince hard, "But still… I'm sorry, Akemi-san. Looks like you have to face the Walpurgisnacht alone again…"

"Your worry is unnecessary. Kyouko and the others' confrontation ought to give the thing some dent in her defense. I can win this. I have to…"

"Don't say you have to." Homura tilted her head in confusion, "Say that _we _have to. There's no way that we'll let you have this burden by yourself anymore."

White wings spreading, Mami only let a small smile as a faint 'thank you' carried by the wind. Now that they are alone, there's no hospitality left between the combatants. No matter how much respect she has for her fallen senior in front of her, she can't let the shadow get through her. Though, the signs of self-consciousness of the familiar confused her a little.

'If the familiar really has a small sense of her pass life, then… even with my bravado earlier, there's no way I can win.' Mami stared down on herself, 'The Desert Witch phantom really did a number on me. I can barely see the opponent…'

Her vision filled with darkness. Mami stood there shell-shocked; feeling the familiar's hand slowly caressed her face. Its face was so close; even in her muddled state of mind, Mami could make out the eyeless contour of that face. Sharp features that could only be gained by frowning a lot, fat strand of hair that crossed the bridge of its nose, sharp teeth that peeked out of the open mouth.

Something clicked in her head and she pulled one of her musket, shooting the familiar right on its chest. Said familiar sailed to another roof and crashed on several crates.

The magical girl again stood unmoving for some time before slapping her own cheek for letting herself distracted over something that she should do.

'I thought I've get over my fangirling days…'

Mami laughed a little at the face of the storm.

**88888**

Madoka stared at one end of the evacuation room. The eyes that had been watching her for 3 hour suddenly disintegrated into nothing. She feared the worst had happen to the master of those eyes.

'_It's time…'_

Madoka nodded at the voice and proceed to walk out of the station. Her mother caught her move and gave a chase, blocking her path on the stair. Madoka looked up to her mother, who barring her way with her hand pressed into the stair railing.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to seek my friends."

"Then let the police or the firefighter do it."

"It has to be me."

"And why is that?" Junko didn't mean for her voice to be that loud, but she shook her head. She could not back down now that her daughter will do something that absolutely stupid.

The sound of rain hitting the windows were like thousands of needle's clink-clanks. Junko saw her daughter's eyes caught something behind her, seemingly heard a voice that Junko couldn't make out. She really wanted to turn and see just what or who is it that stood on her back and whispered something into her daughter's mind. But she turned away from this girl, she might use the chance to escape.

'_Follow me.'_

The mother gasped. There was a voice spoken to her, echoing in her head like it was spoken directly into her subconsciousness. Junko suddenly felt light-headed.

"Mama!"

The small girl propped her mother's arm around her shoulder, fearing that Junko will tumbled down the steps if she lose her grip.

'_Follow me. Both of you.'_

"Mama, are you alright?"

"Never mind that… just who-"

"The one who will guide us to Homura-chan and the others."

"Homura… so she really has something to do with this."

"I don't think this 'something to do' is like what you're expecting, Mama."

'_We don't have much time. If Homura is insane enough to use 'that', then a large part of Mitakihara will be destroyed.'_

"What's going on here?" Junko demanded. The voice immediately answered, again with that ringing telepathy that made her head swimming. Madoka was already dragging her by hand following a separate instruction telepathy.

'_What you will see is not something that someone like you can take without damage on your view of this world.' _The voice went silent for a moment before continuing, _'Do you know anything about magical girls?'_

"Why it has something to do with all this?"

The voice then proceeded to describe everything about the system. From the contract, the sacrifice, the death of magical girls and their rebirth as the Witches. Everything, through and through.

Junko skidded to halt from her running. The story itself was really unbelievable to the point of ridiculous even. If not for the floating buildings that seemed to rotate around a giant silhouette from afar or the fact that destruction of Mitakihara around her is too severe for the element hazard that caused it, she might think that whoever made this voice is either insane or extremely delusional.

But it was there; the destruction, the deaths, the silhouette, everything was there. Her hand gripped Madoka's hard and slowly pulled the girl back to the evacuation center. God be damned, this town be damned; if she could save her daughter, then it's okay to let this town becomes a parking lot. But Madoka looked at her right on the eyes; those angry pink orbs made her shudder, rattling her own resolve. Without words being exchange, they continued their track.

**88888**

She stared down, the harlequin part of Witch had fallen apart into scraps of metals. The gears, on the other hand, were still grinding against each other independently from their destroyed body in a slow, rhythmic routine.

'Why don't you die already?' thought Homura. Her arsenal had since drained. All except for that one. She was tempted to use that baby, but the mental image of Mitakihara wiped from the map made her squeamish. Thirty seven alliterations, for those long months, things always end with Mitakihara and its people's destruction. She could not allow it happen again.

However, her own grip on her mission had corroded away. Her mind now filled with hatred for the Witch and incoherent cries for Walpurgisnacht's blood spilled on the earth below.

"Why don't you die ALREADY?!"

She dived sharply, wings corrupted by her own desire. Several meters before the collusion, the wings coiled around their mistress like an eagle's claws. The fingers jammed their rotation, loud screech turned into rusted creaks of rotten metal.

'I win!'

The gears soon followed the remain of their doll, fallen apart and cracked. Darkness seeped out of the broken construct, twisting.

A long nail broke through a crack on the main gear and pierced Homura through her torso. Blood spilled out of her mouth like a broken dam. She felt her body almost ripped apart and barely hanging by strips of muscle of her belly. Mutely, Homura examined the injury. Chalk-drawing like spike of a nail, boney fingers, flaring black robe with rosaries of white marbles forced its way out of its shedding skin.

'Walpurgisnacht's true form?'

It was her last thought as the Witch ripped her nail from Homura's body, opting to crush her with her bare hands. Homura screamed louder than she thought she could, feeling her ribs pierced her lungs and turning her innards into mush. The black haired girl barely saw that chalk white chin spreaded with smile under the Witch's wide brimmed hat.

A flash of pink from the corner of her eyes; both the Witch and Homura were skewered together by an arrow of light.

**88888**

Six blocks east from the main bridge that separated the river of Mitakihara, industrial district was almost completely annihilated. But it wasn't the first thing she noticed. Madoka gasped at a shadowy figure looming over her friends' bodies.

The ragged shadow that now focused its eyeless face into the newcomers, dragging its gunshots brittle sword on the pavement. Junko put herself between her daughter and this bizarre creature, knowingly that she might not have a chance to do anything other than to give some distraction.

"_That's enough."_

The flickering ghost stepped out of behind ruin of a house. The familiar seemed to sigh, lowering its weapon away from the civilians. Now that Junko paid more attention to the shadowy figure, she realized that the thing was hurt pretty badly. The familiar sighed to itself and suddenly crumbled into fine black dust.

"What happened?" Madoka asked the ghost.

"_You can say that they had been defeated by the familiar,"_ the owner of the mysterious voice pointed at where the figure was standing, _"Walpurgisnacht's memory of the fallen Puellae Magi seemed to have strengthened to the point of making perfect replicas of their living incarnation. Her summoning of this one is really problematic in on itself, but now Homura is fighting Walpurgisnacht alone once again…"_

"No…" And the ghost was right; on the sky where the silhouette of the strange clockwork mannequin floated in a steady hover, a line of purple light charged on. The gear visibly rusted by the purple light, only for that to die out when… something bursted out of the mechanical vessel. "But you said that Homura-chan is…"

"_Having no chance to win? Yes. But it doesn't mean that she can avoid fighting the Walpurgisnacht."_ The ghost suddenly broke into a humorless, cynical laughter, _"Maybe it's really her fate to fail!"_

Everyone was caught off-guard with the shift of personality, even the familiar and including herself. The flickering ghost stood prone for few seconds, hand in front of her face, before slapping herself hard. It was strange to see a hologram of someone's previous incarnation do a self inflicted harm when you can't even touch her. The ghost then distracted Madoka by throwing Kyubey into her feet.

"Wha- Kyubey!" Junko tilted her head in confusion when her daughter took something unseen to her and cradled it in her arms.

"_He kinds of running away from me. Must be because of her blackmail…"_

"As much I disagree with Homura Akemi's method of informing me about the potential threat of your contract, I can't help but having a similar opinion about it." Kyubey struggled in her arms, "We can't have you making your contract."

"That's why never saw you these days. You're can't deny the candidates from making their contract."

"That's right."

"I won't let myself turn into Witch…"

"How is that?"

"Because I wish…"

.

.

.

.

.

The first thing Sayaka realized when she regained consciousness is that her nose was really sore. Trying to sit up was never be as a chore as this time.

… wait, she remembered passed out with her face down. Which means that…

She jolted out of her lying position, now realizing that the entire place illuminated by a great pink light. Sayaka only could think the worst had happened.

"Madoka!"

She yelled at the light source. Where the small girl stood with stern and determined face. Her bow string was pulled back and her arrow was knocked into the position. The great blackness spread like swarm of locust in the sky, more vile than the stormy weather of Walpurgisnacht.

"I will definitely not letting your sacrifice worthless with death…"

The arrow was shot, sailing on the air and hit square on the target. Two identical scream echoed in Mitakihara as the blackness of Walpurgisnacht's true spirit cleared out, revealing the morning sky.

But the Witch was still there, unmoving but still there and so does her presence. Like the Witch only passed out in standing posture. Madoka grinded her teeth; does it not enough? She stared down to the base of her throat. The corruption spread faster than she had ever seen from her friends. She had put too much of herself into that one arrow that she doesn't really notice she burnt her soul more than she should.

Her mother screamed at her, seemingly noticed that something is wrong. Sayaka yelled too and tried to stand with great difficulty.

But what she had focused on was the ghost, whose hands were suddenly disintegrated into dust not unlike the Shadow Witch's phantom. She had those hands in front of face, staring at it with confusion. She couldn't hear what the ghost said, but she could see her mouthing the sentence.

"What's happening…?"

She cannot let herself turn into her curse.

She materialized another arrow, staring at it with earnest before kissing it and turning its tip into her own throat. Sickening squelch of the sharp tip piercing flesh was clear to any of the witnesses.

Her vision grew dark.

She couldn't see anything other than a great darkness.

Then, a small movement. Like a swaying curtain of her mother's bedroom that she opened everyday to wake the woman up. There are many thin curtains swaying around her, like she had been caged between the curtains.

Madoka then saw it; falling chairs in various shapes and colors, falling from the unseeable ceiling. Above her, a lotus-like pedestal float, containing a great pinkish orb, winged and its light trailing like comet. Madoka turned her eyes to the unseeable ceiling and softly said,

"Are you my Witch?"

**88888**

Homura floated weightlessly in the vast darkness. She doesn't know how she pulled into this dimension, the last feeling that she sensed was a new large hole blew into her chest as she screamed her lungs out.

Strange starry sky in the middle of this vast black, like a curtain got bunched up in the middle or a bowtie. Butterfly wings if you prefer it, an apt description of the dimension. Homura floated closer without her consent, but her curiosity was seemingly fed the motion.

Black robe and giant brimmed hat, decorated by pearl white rosary dangled on them. Hands in an auto-pilot, knitting with red needles the owner's hair into an infinite symbol. It was white like the rosary, white hands and white hair. The figure raised her head and one sentence immediately came up to Homura's mind.

"So… you're my Witch, huh?"

The ghost smiled at the question-like statement and nodded.

"_Though not from an expected turnabout. I don't even know that I can be whole again by turning into Witch."_

"Madoka made her contract?" the black magical girl run her fingers in her hair, before pulling a bunch of it off violently, "What about Oriko? Her agreement?"

"_The last time I saw her, she was unconscious, so be glad."_

"But still, just what kind of wish that Madoka had contracted with so I can see you in this condition?"

"_A second chance for the Puellae Magi, a chance to see their flaws and wrongs and fight it so they can be a better person. Learning from mistake, like people likes to say."_

"And what I should do to you?"

"_You can say that you have to defeat me. But…"_

The ghost stopped knitting, letting the needles just dangled on her hair like that.

"_I refuse to bow down to you."_

Homura sneered.

"_How many alliterations, Homura? How many you should fail and my mind bombarded by a new consciousness for every failure? How many times I have to save you from despair and in the end only play a second fiddle to you? Nothing but a ghost of the great Homura Akemi."_

"_You are the weak one. I will become you and be whole, truly whole. I never thought that will have the chance to do just that."_

"Of all possibility," Homura grinded her teeth, "I am Walpurgisnacht?"

"_Dying timelines,"_ runes started to scatter around her, _"Dying souls, overwritten and casted aside to make way for your arrival."_ The runes formed a word, _"Countless soul desperate of finding a way to be alive. You're determined, but so do we._ _Face it, my dear sister. That your problems are nothing but because of yourself."_

A word; the Witch's name. Homulilly.

"_Alas, it's not really the point. Can you overcome us, Homura? That countless soul are asking for your retribution."_

Homulilly casted aside her robe and Homura's eyes widened in horror. The white skin tainted and twisted by disfigurement, dozens of faces infected the otherwise smooth hide. All of which are her face, bloating the body into a horror of a white snake, long and horrid. All of which are screaming the same voice as hers until their throat raw and red. Legs hung uselessly as the tumor of faces slithered closer with their jutted out legs and arms, clumsily dragged their body on an unseen floor.

"_Hear their scream, Homura. Hear the scream of our tailor-made hell and let's see if you can tear your way out of here."_

But Homura busied herself muting the screaming sounds, eyes tearing up with emotion.

The runes scattered once again and formed a new name.

Mephistopheles.

_**To be continued…**_

**88888**

Almost there people, almost there for the end of this arc.

First thing first, I would like to apologize that I delay this chapter. I was actually scheduled this chapter in mid August but my computer crashed along with its 4500 words and I just losing the motivation to write or draw anything in such period.

Nevertheless, here it is. These months are the most hectic for Madoka Magica fans everywhere with the movie coming up. The hoaxes, the discussions, the witness' testimony in the Japan's premiere, all of the gushings over the cheek-rubbing scene (I admit I squeed at that scene). I never thought that I would be so excited for some recapped movies, and from what I see, I'm hyped.

Not to mention the Different Story manga. God, Mami and Kyouko's last battle before Kyouko leaving Mitakihara is glorious, no matter how heart-wrenching it is. Mami summoning double Tiro Finale and shooting Kyouko point blank (well, not really point blank), Kyouko overpowers Mami with sheer speed and nimbleness, and ends with her having Mami's throat on her spear tip. I always thought that from the Drama CD, Kyouko wins from brute force and Mami was holding back, but no, Kyouko wins because she's more skilled.

And the manga ending… I'm never says the phrase in this site but already several times in the Deviantart so I will say this. I should stop being an artist and learn some fortune telling. I mean, Homura let Mami loose to get between Kyouko and Sayaka's fight in Ep. 6? It's just like this fanfic, man…

Now back to the business. The last line was surprising, no? I would like to give you the explanation of the symbolism, because we can't have a Madoka Magica without symbolism and angst.

So good morning, class, and welcome in German Literature 101. I am Professor Alba and I will be your lecturer for today. This time we will discuss about the connection of Homura Akemi to Faust and Mephistopheles' personalities.

If you read Faust, whatever the version, you will notice that, yes, the overall theme of the deal with the devil is prevalent in the series of Madoka Magica. But if we talking about personality, then you will notice some oddities. First is the position of Mephisto. Even though Kyubey is billed as the 'Mephisto' in Madoka Magica, he's more like an Old God from the Mythos and it indeed confirmed by Gen "The Butcher" Urobuchi himself. While Mephisto in Faust has a sympathetic characterization that is actually closer to Homura than Faust to Homura.

Mephisto, for one, has that 'surrounded by idiot' attitude going on, which is pretty much what Homura is as the only one who knows about the system and looks at the other with somewhat a restrained distain. Faust on the other hand, is like Victor Frankestein; a genius who lack common sense. I mean…come on, making a deal with devil because you're bored and had an escapade with Helen of Troy, and expecting everything's gonna be alright? Doesn't he know that Troy burnt because Paris did just that?

The second is Mephisto's protective streak to Faust. That's pretty much self-explainatory, really. Even though they both don't really have a responsibility to do that (Mephisto is explicitly ordered just to grant Faust's wish), they do it anyway.

And the last… well, I really don't want to say this as much as I am a fans of it, but both Homura and Mephisto have a really blatant gay subtexts to their supposted charge. Some versions even have the subtexts turn into text.

Then we see the Faust part of Homura. We all know that the Faust part of Homura in the show is mostly plot related, not personality. I congrate it in the way that various fates of Faust in various version of the play. The standard ending of Faust before Goethe's version is that Gretchen's love and purity failed and Faust dragged into hell by the tortured souls. The fusion of Homura's 'dead' souls from her replacing them in the new timelines becomes these tortured souls, after Madoka can't save her from herself.

Appearance of Mephistopheles is that of the White Snake that seduce Adam and Eve to eat the Forbidden Fruit. In Goethe's version, unlike the other, Mephisto _is _the Devil and not Devil's vassal. The reason why I choose this form is… well, I can't really imagine Homura wearing sexy, tight leather outfits like Mephistopheles.

So I made Mephistopheles as Homulilly's legion fusion name in this fanfic from the fusion of various incarnations of Faust and Mephistopheles. I think it's fitting for the Witch that is the fusion of the same incarnation of a Puella Magi.

I want to add the tri-chapter review reply, but it seems like the reviews don't have any question that can be answered, so I would like to just say a thank you for the review. The next chapter should be faster now I have the drive to write.

See you next time.


	7. Puellae Magi

She could see it, the girl wearing Mitakihara Middle School uniform glided over the glass floor, seemingly deliberate to guide her away from people's prying eyes. She chased her; she chased her as fast as she could. But the distance between them never decreased.

Until that girl finally stopped. Madoka bended over to her knee, trying to gather her breath.

She's on the roof. She blocked off her surrounding when she run after that girl. It was quite strange, to be that tunnel-visioned.

That girl was facing her when she raised her head. That familiar flickering mirage.

"I thought Homura-chan said that you can't leave the barrier."

"I can't. That's why I brought some of the barrier with me."

Madoka squinted a little. There was indeed a thin white mist outlining the ghost. Now that she caught the ghost, she suddenly doesn't know what she should say next. But the ghost immediately cut her thought short.

"You know… before I'm explaining for what reason I do something this energy-draining, I want to make something clear to you first."

The next sentence sent her blood to sub-zero.

"I hate you. All my hatred for you."

She didn't know what to say. She fought back the tears.

But then, something clicked in her head.

"Homura-chan said that she made you by-"

"Ripping everything that might slow her mission down from herself? Yes. Everything, from anger, sadness, despair, and even her trademark shy girl persona. She ripped some of her personality and emotion to slow down her Witch transformation, everything that she deems 'weak'. She's that stubborn about the whole 'saving you' thing."

"So… hating is just how you are?"

"It's quite frustrating to swing between personalities, really. And she's not static; every time she goes back, she changes her personality. I hate you as much as I want to be your friend, seek for you approval, and fangirling over you. But this endless repetition nonsense starts to get ridiculous, and I know you're the only one who has capability to stop it."

The ghost sat on the bench and gestured her to do the same. Madoka did just that question. She stole a glance; it was surreal to see the same braided visage of that shy girl persona now talking with confidence five times of her appearance could show. The ghost sighed, leaning to her arms behind her back.

"What do you think of the Walpurgisnacht?" she said, still staring at the dark cloud overhead.

"I think… it doesn't make sense. If Homura-chan calculates everything, then why she couldn't defeat her?"Madoka then played with her fingers, "Do you think there's something that she missed?"

"She's too stubborn, I told you. There's indeed a reason why she could never defeat that Witch without help, preferably yours. And the thing that prevents her to see it is her denial. If she sees that reason, she will surely turns Witch right here and there."

"Everything is all about turning Witch in the end, huh? I always like to think…"

"What?"

"If Witches don't exist… but it's the same as letting those sacrifices the girls made in vain. Destroying their soul… it sounds terrible. It's like even in deaths, they have nothing nice."

Madoka bended down and buried her face on her hands, thus not seeing a newly-formed grin on the ghost's face.

"Go on…"

"A way to change the system. I have enough power to wish everything that I want, right? Any wish isn't a problem. It's just how to change magical girl's food chain in the way where the girls don't have to be the Witches without destroying their soul…"

"A bit convoluted, don't you think? Changing the system is okay, but if there are too many conditions, the end result will have too many loopholes and thus, more unpredictable results."

"So, something simple and straightforward… there are some wishes that I have in mind. But is it enough? …hey, why do you think the magical girls turning into Witches?"

Of all things the ghost had expected the girl in front of her to ask, this thing wasn't in the list. It gave her a nonchalant shrug.

"Regret of why their wish isn't going like how they imagine and despair that follows, I guess? The reason can be vary to each person. Though, when you think about it, those who have their Soul Gem corrupted aren't capable of thinking straight."

"You think people can change their thought if they just calm down enough to think about that?"

It couldn't hold back a small chuckle. She was the one whose goal was to goad this girl into the next stage with questions. For her to successfully lure it to switch role was quite impressive. Even at the time where apocalypse was just around the corner, she was calm and collected unlike most of the girls.

"I guess…"

"Then, I have a plan. A bit dangerous, but if it's going smoothly, I'll have everything under control. Maybe some safety pins if you willing to give them." The ghost gave her its deepest frown.

"…What do you want from me, little girl?"

"I want you to become my safety nets. You know about Homura-chan's ritual, right? The one that she made you from."

"Don't… tell me…"

"I will make my wish, but you will be there to prevent me from turning into Witch if it's failed. You will forcibly extract my corruption like Homura-chan does to herself to buy us time. The time that you will use to have me killed."

"You're insane!" the ghost shouted, "If it's that simple, then we should just ask some random girl from the street to make that contract, but no! It has to be you! And if you die… if you die… we have to go through this all over again!"

She then slumped heavily to her seat beside Madoka, a bit drained from the outburst. The pink-haired girl smiled and took deep breath.

"I don't want to make the magical girls' sacrifice to be in vain, but I also don't want them to curse everything they had been worked on. I want them to realize that it's okay to make mistake and show them that they can better themselves from that mistake. If they die because of that mistake, they don't have the chance to better themselves and instead tortured by its memory without power to fix it, right? I too have to go through that process, or die trying."

"You… want to give the Puellae Magi a chance to fight their despair?"

"Isn't that what humans do? We're growing up by learning from our mistakes; it's not fair if the magical girls don't have the same right." Madoka leaned back on her seat, head tilted back to look at the sky. "But we don't know what will happen if I make that wish, so I'm asking your help. You want to get away from this endless repetition Homura-chan tortured herself in, right? I guess you have your motivation, then."

The ghost stared shell-shocked at the pink haired girl, before she throwing her head up and laugh as loud as she could. Madoka only looked back at the ghost with a polite curiosity even though she a little bit weirded out by the laughter. Out of breath, the ghost let out a toothy grin at her.

"You know what? I actually wanted to bully you into making the contract, but it looks like it's absolutely unneeded. You're right; I'm desperate to escape from this maze. I know that Homura is too stubborn to have a conversation about it with and you're the only one who has karma strong enough to turn everything to its head, so I'm going after you." Brushing her hair behind her ear, she then extended her hand to the girl beside her, "Let's end this, both of us."

The great white snake stared down to that hand before clenching it into fist.

'_I'm sorry, Madoka… I have found my escape.'_

**88888**

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_Once upon a time, there's a little girl who fought against fate. The girl inspired the other girls to let go of their rage, and those girls inspired the other girls to do the same. Once upon a time, there are little girls who fought against fate. It was difficult, but their efforts they never wage. They are the Slaves of the Deceiver, the saviors of where they came._

**88888**

There's no answer; the curtains of darkness swayed by an undetectable breeze and chairs falling from ceiling. But she could feel it, Madoka could feel it. The presence, something inside her chest throbbed so painfully with recognition at that presence like children smiling and running up to their mother's embrace.

The curtains suddenly spun around her like she seeing the hurricane from its eye, and then white.

Madoka blinked open her eyes, and she was greeted by the familiar sight of her bedroom ceiling.

She snapped up, letting her blanket fell and pooled around her feet. She swayed, slightly light-headed from the sudden movement. It might be just her feeling, but somehow she felt taller than the usual.

Run out her room, into her father's backyard garden that she always go through every day on her way to wake her mother up. There was a man there; her father, with more wrinkles than she remembered he has.

"Good morning, Madoka. Sleep well after that emergency calling?"

"...Emergency…?"

"You don't remember? One of your charges went into coma last night, right? You have to stay up all the night and only came home at 2 am."

"Am I…?"

It wasn't making any sense until she looked at her reflection. Longer face but still has the slight baby fat, sharper features and prominent nose; it seemed like she was older by several years. It was strange, but her body somehow navigated through her morning routine like in auto-pilot; like its instinct intact with the life that she never knew she had.

From her routine she found out that she was a medical student working as apprentice nurse. She could not lie; she had a feeling that she loves the job, having a chance to help more people. Being a nurse reminds her that some of her friends were having some kind of affiliation with hospital, with the whole magical girl deals pretty much taken care of their problem with it. Maybe because Kyubey indeed preying on those who already sick or dying as his usual standard modus operandi, making sure their contracts could not be refused.

She ate her breakfast, said good bye to her family, admired the 10 year old Tatsuya rambling about his newest school project, and let her feet guide her to her working place. There's only one general hospital in Mitakihara, but it was enough for the entire city to evacuate inside it if the need arose and the staffs were all professional. The place was almost too perfect.

She marked her attendance and went to her charge, an arrhythmia patient in room 316.

When she took a step inside the room, she almost dropped her clipboard.

There's already a person inside, caressing the patient's hair with fondness. Another of her hand leaned uselessly on her wheelchair's armrest, but it didn't seem to bother her. Noticing her presence, the young woman looked up and smiled warmly.

"Ah, Kaname-san. I'm just visiting. Would you like for me to leave you alone with your date?" she said with slightly teasing tone at the end. Madoka blushed softly.

"N-No, Mami-san. I'm just checking."

She took another unsteady step which gradually turned into determined stomps. She smiled down at the patient, who answered the smile with her own from behind her breathing mask. Madoka almost teared up just from a look. Just how many life support devices could be hooked up to one person?

"Good morning, Homura-chan. How do you feel?"

"A little better, I think…" she breathed in and out slowly before continuing, "My chest doesn't contract too painfully anymore."

"That's good to hear…"

Her hand stopped writing long time ago, and she would rather bury herself in some hole other than staying in this place. It broke her heart to see the helpless and sickly Homura even though she knew about that one detail. It felt like she was thrown into the world where magical girl system does not exist, judging from Mami that was wheelchair-bound with triple disabilities. The world where no wish of the magical girls came true.

'What happen to Sayaka-chan and Kyouko-chan, I wonder?'

"Look at the time." Mami exclaimed, "I'd better go back to my own room before my nurse ransacks the entire hospital looking for me."

She wheeled herself out of the room with a simple push of a button.

"It seems like I have to leave you both to your date either way." She muttered aloud with the same airiness as her teasing. Homura let out a small sound of embarrassment at the blonde woman.

Madoka pulled a chair beside the bed and sat, her eyes longing.

"How do you feel, Homura-chan?" the asked girl looked back at her confusedly.

"I thought I had said that already. My-"

"No… I mean, how you feel lying in the hospital?" she played with her hair absentmindedly, "I don't think I've ever experience it."

Madoka was closing her eyes; the only thing that she was aware of in the room is a vague shuffling of the mattress sheet as Homura shifted to her side. A deep sigh, muffled by the breathing mask of hers.

"I guess… I regret that I can't do many things, and maybe regretting that I had done some. Sleeping around everyday makes me think a lot of things; something what I'm going to do if I was healthy, what I will see outside if I was healthy. I also… sometimes wonder if we can be together longer if I went to school longer than I did."

"You don't regret meeting someone like me? I'm not that good of a person; I don't think so, but I'm sure Sayaka-chan and others will say the otherwise."

"You're a wonderful person, Kaname-san. That, I guarantee. I know that… I will not regret it."

She smiled, the thing that is proved to be contagious. Madoka smiled with her, clapping her hands a sudden burst of excitement.

"Then I guess I will just hear what you're regretting, then! My mother said that if you talk about your problem, then you will feel better afterward." Homura only smiled at her antic.

"Well… the thing that I regret the most, I guess that I can't meet with my parents."

"Eh? Really? Then the story about you going to a Catholic school…"

"It was a missionary school. My orphanage sent me there after I… misbehaved." She hesitated for a little before continuing, "I burned my orphanage's storehouse with several other kids inside. They survived, and I was sent that school because I was too young to go to jail."

Madoka widened her eyes in horror. Her Homura-chan, almost killed someone when she was younger?

"W-Why?" she doesn't want to judge, "Why would you do that? You won't do such thing without a reason, right?"

"When I was in the orphanage… I really like to sit behind the highest window. It was directly going to the backyard, and the view was surprisingly beautiful. At the height, I could see everything happening in the backyard. I would sit there after breakfast to evening doing nothing but looking out of the window and drawing something… until I see something that I don't think I want to see."

"Those boys… they were one of the oldest kids and infamous as troublemakers. I didn't really pay them attention, but I then saw some of their worst. They would carry a limp figure to the storehouse and stay there for hours. I was curious; I followed them the next time I know they would bring a limp body of a girl to that place. They did… things to her, things that I not yet understand. I let that happen for a year before I found out what they did was sick and wrong."

"Then… you burned them while they were inside, doing… things…"

"I was still simple back then. All good deed must be rewarded while naughty things must be punished, the matron said that to me; but the adults didn't really listen to me about this one thing, saying that I must be mistaken. That I was mistaken some rapists are walking around the vicinity, or that they had raised those rapists. I don't get it, why they aren't punished yet. So I punished them. They, the policemen I mean, took me away before I know what happen to those boys other than they survived."

Homura laughed a humorless chuckle.

"I was a bad person, wasn't I? You don't really expect me as a murderer, right?"

Madoka averted her eyes, a little bit conflicted with how she would answer that. On one hand, she couldn't say that what she did was wrong; Homura was doing what she had taught and the boys seemed to really deserve some kind of smiting. But to the extent of almost losing their lives? No one really deserved death as punishment. She made her wish for that very reason, after all. Somehow, the wish had already affected her mindset. Or was it her mindset that urged her to make that wish? It was like trying to determine which one came first; egg or chicken, but she shouldn't mind such trivial matters now.

The sudden backstory blew her away. It was Sayaka all over again; the hidden dark depth that someone unassuming has behind the smiling mask that is they face could never tell. And once again, she couldn't really say anything about it. She gathered Homura's hands in her own, squeezing lightly at those hands.

"I don't think you're wrong, Homura-chan…"

She could see it; the sudden lightness in her eyes brightened her very being.

**88888**

She finished her work at 6 pm, letting her instinctive legs dragged her body around the town. Mitakihara doesn't look any different other than several new places that understandably underwent construction if her several years timeskip was correct. But one thing that made her wondering. If there are no magic or Kyubey, why the city, nay, the entire world feels no different? If the progression of the world had been interfered by the magical girls' wishes, then why the world feels no different? Was Kyubey lying to them? She was so deep in thought that she dumped into someone.

"Eh? Madoka?"

Madoka looked up to the person. Sayaka grinned a little at her, hands on her hip. She had her hood up, but her longer curtains of blue hair still peeked out of the frame.

"Sayaka-chan?"

Sayaka immediately clamped her mouth shut with her hand.

"Oi, oi, don't shout. I'm running away right." She then released her hand from Madoka's mouth, who rubbing the sting of that hand slapping with her skin. Sayaka smiled apologetically.

"Running away from who?"

As in cue, a horde of young people running from the corner chanting Sayaka's name, going pass them and then gone like a sudden breeze of summer wind. The pink haired girl answered her own question with a small laugh in her voice.

"Your fans?"

"I've been trying to shake them off since I came out of the studio. They sure are persistent." She threw up her arms and bounced in her steps. It was quite refreshing to see the taller girl again in such a high spirit after all of her brooding in wake of the truth of the magical girl system.

"I want to go to Kyouko's place. Wanna come?"

"Ah! I don't think so. Sorry, Sayaka-chan, I have to go home." Sayaka frowned, but in the end shrugged.

"Well, then. Off you go, I don't want you hold you back from eating your Papa's yum-yum dinner." She said in baby voice.

"Sayaka-chan, you meanie."

She just laughed good-naturedly.

Then Madoka like had a lightning struck her. It was impossible. All of these things ended up all too happy for really happening. Like the equal balance of happiness and suffering is nonexistent and everything tips to the general happy side of the scale.

It was impossible. Happiness won't be there without suffering unless…

_Kriemhild Gretchen, the Salvation Witch. Merciful in nature._

Madoka turned and sped pass the blue girl, ignoring her shout that she went to the opposite way of her home. She had to make sure herself, make sure herself to the only person who knows the system the most beside Kyubey. She run to the hospital, again was ignoring the shout of people around her. Room 316, she almost there. She charged through the door, and froze in her place.

Her head lolled to the side, facing her while that smiling face had just been covered by a doctor with her sheet. Madoka could only stare at the prone body. She passed away… Madoka thought. Is this the balance of hope and despair of this world? But then, she shook her head, that smiling face latched deep in her subconscious.

'That isn't the face of someone in despair. This is the world without such thing as despair. This is…'

Madoka opened her eyes, and those large black curtains swaying greeted her vision. She emptied her lungs with a shout.

"Kriemhild Gretchen! I know it was you!"

There was no answer, at least until the swaying of those curtains suddenly became violent and a distorted voice not unlike her own whispered back into her ears.

"_Yes... it was me…"_

"Is this the world without despair? _Your _world?"

"_Indeed… this is the world where people can be happy with their lives."_

"You killed Homura-chan." It was a statement.

"_She dies happy. It was her life without magical girl system; there's no other way for her to survive without the system; oh the irony, and there's no way that she would die in the way she is right now if she doesn't meet you, with the magical girl system as the exact circumstance. I made that happen in my world, where the impossible happens; just like the world without despair except my own."_

She floated in the endless space, filled with stars and other celestial bodies. The Earth in front of her, small inside this vast sky, rotated in such a slow motion that she might not catch the movement if she doesn't pay attention. Then, from the general direction of North Asia, a great darkness coiled like it was alive, taking shape of giant arms and claws. White mask, creased like wooden crafting, with Mars as its right eye and Moon as its mouth, making an expression of wide-eyed, open-mouthed angst.

Madoka felt her legs lose their strength and would be on her knees if not for the zero gravity of the realm. She was in awe, and horror, of the sheer power of her despair, carrying over the magical girls' grief, her other selves' and her friends' grief, into her own soul. Horrible scream escaped from inside the hollow mark, Gretchen raised her claws into the heaven. She was tearing the very system that cursed the souls of the Puellae Magi; she was tearing the world, no, the universe, and reshaping it into the way she wanted. The world where there are salvation in exchange of eternal silence and fake happiness.

Madoka gritted her teeth and clenching her fists. This is not the hope that she wanted. Madoka summoned her power and it exploded into a great blast, washing over Gretchen's own influence. The world turned and twisted, and she was back staring at the sheet-covered body. She dashed inside the room and searched for it. She found it, the defibrillators. She pushed pass the doctors and ripped the sheet away from the prone body.

"If this is the hope that you've been looking for, then I instead will reject it. I will make the world where we all can survive, where we all can face our despair without folding under pressure, where we all have the real hope to fight for. I will make the world that is better than yours! You hear that, Kriemhild Gretchen! I will make the world better than yours!"

She pressed the defibrillators to Homura's side.

"Clear!"

A jolt, and her vision went black.

**88888**

One by one, the fighters of Walpurgisnacht awaken from their unconsciousness. They stared down at the fallen magical girl. Madoka is on her back and has her throat pierced by her own arrow, while her mother and Sayaka lightly paced around her in worry and panic. Kyouko was the first who exclaimed her thought.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Madoka… made her contract…"

Everyone was silent and not moving, like waiting for some kind of cue. Oriko's eyes flicked to Kirika and the eye-patched magical girl suddenly charged pass Yuma and Kyouko with her claws bared. She kicked Mami away on her side, bringing down her weapons to Madoka's Soul Gem-turned-Grief Seed. Sayaka cursed, quickly summoned her cutlasses from behind her cape and crossed them on the top of her head, meeting the attack and taking the brunt force by pushing her head into the blunt sides of her sword.

"What the hell are you doing?! What about the truce?" screamed Sayaka.

"Homura-kun has failed preventing Madoka Kaname's contract. The truce had ended."

"You fucking cunt!" Kyouko roared, spear materialized, "You're waiting for this happening just because! You're really intended to knife us to begin with!"

"Please! Her mother is watching. You will kill her in front of her mother?" Yuma held her staff with shaky hands. Oriko who was restrained by the chain links of Kyouko's spear, met her eyes in sympathy.

"There's no other way…"

"Mami-san!"

Sayaka shouted for back-up, Kirika had her pinned under her tight. The Berserker was surprisingly flexible and nimble, but Sayaka twisted her own legs to lock them both into a tangled mess of limbs. The called senior had her eyes casted down as she stalked down to the fallen girl, musket aiming for the Soul Gem.

"Mami-san!"

"Mikuni-san's right. We don't have the time… or the chance."

"Mami! You're speaking bullshits! Don't we all agree that we will fight those bastards until the end?"

"This is the end, Sakura-san…" she trained her musket to the fallen girl, "We lose…"

Someone was blocking her aim. Mami looked up, with face stained by tears, and met Junko's harsh glare.

"If you want to kill my girl… then you have to go through me first. But I swear to God… I will kill you first before you can get your hands on my daughter."

Her voice was low and dangerous. Mami and Junko kept their gaze on each other, with Mami's musket still trained to where she knew the Soul Gem was behind the mother's back. Mami lowered her head and turned to face the struggling combatants. She then lowered her gun and sobbed, eliciting relieved sighed from Sayaka and Kyouko.

Sudden explosion of wind and gale made them remember the important thing.

"She's turning Witch!"

"Fuck it!"

Kirika gained a sudden burst of power and twisted her thighs to Sayaka's neck. Unprepared and surprised, Sayaka could only gurgle as the black magical girl violently snapped her neck. She charged, slashed Junko's tendons on the way and raised her claws above Madoka's head. Sayaka's neck, twisted horribly, quickly healed in a harsh jerk and re-twisted in the same manner it was breaking while she chased after her counterpart.

Yuma already got in the berserker's way, slamming her staff into Kirika's side and sent her sprawled on broken concrete. Sayaka again sighed in relief.

"Auntie Junko!"

She blew her healing spell on the open wounds, leaving no trace of the injury. Junko threw her a grateful smile.

"We have no time to fight among each other. Kriemhild Gretchen's birth has to be prevented in any way possible." Kyouko growled at the prophet and strangled her harder.

"We promised to trust her judgment, and Homura's! Where is it, Oriko?! Where's your trust?"

"It has nothing to do with it!"

"It has, you back-stabbing bitch!" her chain now digging into her neck until her breath hitched loudly, "She might not say this, but Homura believed that you truly want to save this world. She wanted you to believe that Madoka also think the same! Where are you when you both spoke about your truce, huh?! If one of the two people with the same thinking can't trust each other, then it's you who are the danger to this world!"

"That's-" Kyouko didn't give her the chance.

"People who can't even make peace to other can't be their savior! That's what you are, bitch! You're nothing! You're nobody! You're-"

"That's enough, Kyouko-chan…"

Simultaneously, their attention focused on the pink-haired girl. Struggling to get up, she gripped her Soul Gem close to her chest. She opened her hands, and the other magical girls gasped in amazement. The golden frames of the Soul Gem arranged themselves, letting out a small creak as they turned into its Grief Seed frame pattern. The pink Soul Gem encased inside a shooting star pattern, pulsing with life and power. The corruption in her Gem vaporized out, making Kyubey slightly widened his eyes and scurried up to Madoka's shoulder to absorb the blackness into the hole in his back.

"That's…"

"The result of my wish… just like I had wished it. It's a proper contract, right?"

"Y-Yes…"

"But it's not over yet."

She looked into the carnage of Walpurgisnacht and her eyes hardened with determination.

"We have to find Homura-chan first."

**88888**

She exhausted her resources, her legs no longer obeyed her commands after the abuse they endured, whether from her opponent's attack and tiredness, and her body pinned under the massive weight of the great white snake that is Mephistopheles. The main head smirked down at her with such a victorious glee, savoring the dominance she had been longed since her birth.

Homura almost bit her own tongue when one of the lower faces opened its eyes. The eyes that as quickly turned into an unadulterated rage as it dawned on her identity.

"You!"

A pair of arms burst from where the ears of its neighboring faces were before and strangled her already tight airway.

"It's your fault! It's all your faults! Look at me! Look at what you have done to me!"

Another face at the left of the previous hostile one opened its eyes also. This one suddenly burst into tears.

"Please… have mercy. We beg you… have mercy…"

Her vision blurred, but she could clearly thirty-seven pairs of purple eyes stared down at her, each with their own opinion and emotion for her very actions, judging her, blaming her, vomiting out incredible hatred and anger to her, to their other self. But one pairs that really made her heart ache more than the other so and so eyes, whose owner whispered a phrase that snapped something inside her mind.

"_I win…"_

The Witch was right, it was her own fault. Walpurgisnacht, this endless maze, Madoka's piling karma, all because she just couldn't accept Madoka dies a hero.

Her head swam.

She then dreamed a thing that she thought was impossible after so many times failing.

Every single one of them, sitting on blanket, watched the sakura flower bloom. A petal flew to the back of her hand, marking the last days of Hanami. Early May, those days; the days that she had never saw since her self-imposed hell. They were all alive and well, smiling and laughing, such in joy of the festivity.

It was a beautiful dream.

Homura reached behind her shield.

A click, and an explosion burst from where Mephistopheles had pressed her entire weight on Homura. Scream of dozens of incarnations filled the barrier, and Homura easily escaped in the panic. Her left side of face, torso, and left arm scorched to the point of useless, but she was grateful that at least her wounds were burnt and no longer bleeding. She again reached behind her shield and pulled out a pair of combat knifes. Wielding those knifes on both hands, she run to the disoriented Witch and jumped to the main torso and head, weapons reared back and she stabbed Mephistopheles in her chest. Homura grunted, the metal blades digging difficultly at the Witch's ribs, and she levered herself up from the torso to came face to face with her Witch.

The Walpurgisnacht gritted her teeth, blood dribbled down her lips. Her main arm tried to take a swing at Homura, but she had pulled out one of her knifes to stab Mephistopheles' ball of shoulder joint, effectively pinning the arm to her torso.

"_Why?"_ the Witch roared, _"Why are you persisting?"_

"It's true that everything bad happens because of me. But I can't let you win. You _are_ Walpurgisnacht, it is my wish to stop you. It is my wish to stop you from escaping to another timeline and start this all over…"

"_You fool! This is my power! I can fix everything if I use it, if I reverse everything back to the way they were. I can stop all of this!"_

"Look at yourself! You can barely speak without the other you raving madly at something. This power is our despair, it will corrupt you as much as it will corrupt any other magical girl. You only degrade your mind further succumbing to the curse! It's not the right way!"

"_Then what is it?! Answer me, Homura! What else I can do? What else __**you**__ can do?"_

Both of them were silenced, either by the question or by exhaustion. Homura lowered her head and let go of her grips on her knife, sliding down along the length of the towering white snake. She pulled out her last weapon, her trusted Beretta. She then pressed the muzzle into her own Soul Gem as all of Mephistopheles' faces gasped in unison.

"This is the only thing that surely can stop you…"

"…_How far, Homura…? How far you're going to protect her?"_ at this, she only smiled sadly.

"You already know the answer."

.

.

.

.

.

Madoka stood on a collapsed wall, hair no longer bounded by her ribbons and freely played by the wind. She heard a small sound of crushed shallow crust and turned, Oriko had her hat removed and holding it close to her chest. Even in between destructions and ruin, she was as graceful as ever, if not for that deep regret marred her face.

"I'm sorry… so very sorry…"

Madoka averted her eyes.

"It's done. What had happened, happens."

"But still, I can say how much I've done wrong. You shame me, Kaname-kun. Homura-kun was wrong; you had always been the better one."

"Then… what will you do next?"

"I don't think Kyouko-kun has the patient to ally herself with me anymore, so I'm thinking about leaving to another territory. A fresh start, you can say. I have to learn more about what is good for all of us before I can stand side by side with you. Until then…"

The prophet turned away from her former home, Kirika trailing not far behind. The black magical girl peered over her shoulder and sent a small nod at her, before running following the young girl who she had sworn loyalty to.

She waited until she could not hear the steps before collapsing to her knees. Her hands bunched that wide pink skirt of hers; she almost could hear the threads ripping from her grip. Not far to her left, the remaining magical girls and Junko huddled together around the prone body. Sayaka was hesitated, but she nevertheless put her hand on Homura's face and closed her eyes slowly.

"I can't… believe it more than we won against Walpurgisnacht. She always seemed so invisible…"

"What we're going to do now…?"

"We- uh…?"

Those small creaks gathered their attention.

Homura took a sharp intake of breath.

There is so much rejoicing.

"Let's go home… I'm sore all over."

**88888**

"How could you survive from that? Your Soul Gem was shattered, right?"

"I guess… death is cheap in our personal hell. I mean, if you die in hell, then the hell can no longer inflict suffering to us. What is hell if it couldn't inflict suffering?"

"That's very masochist of you, Princess. You're in luck, or maybe a little unlucky. You still have that feast promise with me."

"Yes, yes… I guess we can have the celebration after finding some excuses for our absences in the evacuation station."

They limped to the makeshift bridge made of Mami and Kyouko's magic. They had agreed that they won't waste any more magic to prevent their transformation and not to attract people attention for their lack of injury walking outside of a great storm, opting for the slow ordinary medication. That left the combatants with some of the more serious injuries, like Sayaka's broken neck and Homura's burnt face. Not that exactly bothered them, especially Sayaka who chatted amicably with Kyouko as the redhead who had her on piggyback.

"I think I can arrange that one…" Junko wondered aloud.

"Really, Auntie Junko? " Sayaka laughed in delight, "Then we have one less of problems."

"Well, that really good to hear. After all, adults are usually useless in this kind of setting." Kyouko smirked to the frowning mother, "But still, glad that we at least have your back-up, Kaname-san. We're going to need it badly in some scenario."

"Just don't get it in your head, little punk. I can't cover you up all the time."

"Don't worry, don't worry~."

"Say you Kyouko!"

They walked away with such triumph and hope in their hearts; they didn't notice something was amiss. A quite tall apartment just beyond the bridge stood like a sore thumb in the destroyed city, with only a small margin of it was breaking down because the storm. With their backs pressed to the wall, two third year students of Mitakihara Junior High eyeing the stranger. A girl, few years older than themselves and shielding her head from the rain with a traditional wooden umbrella, quickly closing the gap between them. Minami sneered at her, trying to intimidate the newcomer at least a little.

Those red eyes made them unsettle, like the smile on the stranger's face does not reach those eyes. The stranger seemed to understand their hostility, and stopped about 10 meters from them. It was enough from the two girls to judge their potential enemy's appearance. She was quite tall and waif, with black hair put into a small rattail that seemingly wagging like a distressed puppy's tail when she was walking. Other than the beauty mark under her left eye, she was unremarkable.

Out of nowhere, the mysterious girl asked, her voice was low and dangerous without removing that smile that permanently painted into her face.

"You saw, didn't you?"

Minami gulped her saliva loudly.

"Is it supposed to be a secret? The whole magical girl thing…"

"Yes, you're not their candidates, so technically you broke their generations long hiding and such will be punished in a way that make you incapable of telling the secret…"

"So, you will 'silence' us?" the stranger laughed lightly at the question.

"If I want you dead, then I won't bother to prevent you from becoming a stain on the pavement. No… you're finding out the secret is just like the way I want." She reached out her free toward the two girl, "Give me the recording, you won't need it."

The gesture only made them pressed themselves further into the wall.

"If you want the recording, then why you didn't do it by yourself? Why you were waiting for us to do that if it's a secret?"

"You're right." She pulled her hand and turned away from them, "I can do that by myself. But the problem is… it's not the recording that is really matter for me." She looked over her shoulder and again smiled, "It's the witnesses that I need. It's you that I need."

"What?"

"Why do you think people generally trust witnesses more than evidence? People have more empathy for the living because they have an instinct to coexist with their kin, and the livings have more in common with the non-living, as you can see…"

"You… you want to betray your kind? You want to expose the secret of magical girls into public for whatever reason even though it's clear that you should not?" Minami said in disbelieve. Never in many years that she would witness something that dramatically change her view of some other thing, and this kind of betrayal is not something that had ever saw before in magical girl related business. The mystery girl just shrugged half-heartedly

"I'm calling it 'doing us all a favor'."

They eyed their 'guest' with a raised eyebrow as she twirled in an imaginary dance, throwing her red strips long coat around, that was really jarring when one considering the destruction around them. She jumped to a broken wall, using the momentum to propel higher and sat on a surviving horizontal flag pole. The mystery girl rested her head on her knuckle, still holding the umbrella as steady as ever.

"Tell me… what do you think of this entire farce? I know one of your classmates is one of them. Does this knowledge change your perspective of her?"

"I… guess so…" Minami turned to her friend. She had spent the day without word, she almost surprised herself to death when the shorter girl spoke, "I mean… now we understand why she does what she did; avoiding us, rejecting our offers. It's all make sense." She then steeled her nerve and clenched her hand into fist, "Has it something to do with your plan? Isn't all the attention Mami-san will get instead making her life even more difficult?"

"Miwako, I don't think the glamour of celebrity is the problem here."

"She's right, Miwako-chan." The stranger said in a sing-song, "There's something more than just the famous that I want to invoke."

"Then, why do you want the recording?"

"To protect you, in short. You see, I might let you get away with this, but the other magical girls won't think the same. We are professionals, girls. We are trained to hunt the thing that you just saw in regular basis. They can track you down as easily as smelling your mother's freshly baked cake." She jumped down the pole and closed in. Again she reached out her hand in 'come hither' gesture.

"You save under my watch, I guarantee that. Just keep yourself low, and before you know it, you won't be the only one who knows about the existence of the Puellae Magi."

The girls were hesitating before relent. The mystery girls bowed before them and let out a smile. But this time, it was warm. Like a thick blanket and hot chocolate in winter, suddenly both of the girls never been so in ease. She then hummed a melody and recited a chant-like poem.

_Once upon a time, there's a little girl who fought against fate. _

_The girl inspired the other girls to let go of their rage, _

_And those girls inspired the other girls to do the same. _

_Once upon a time, there are little girls who fought against fate. _

_It was difficult, but their efforts they never wage._

_They are the Slaves of the Deceiver, the saviors of where they came._

"My name is Kafuka Fuura, and it's a pleasure to meet you girls."

**First Arc, Alliteration Thirty-Seven Ends**

**88888**

Chapter 7, and the last of this arc. I'm quite relived that I can make it, more than because I finished an arc. Madoka Magica's timeloop storyline has become too much of a staple, it starts to become formulaic and somewhat redundant. I want to write more about the other character, but for the stoplight to move a little from Homura and Madoka, Walpurgisnacht must be defeated first. And since Walpurgisnacht can only defeated in the end of Madoka Magica storyline, well… Station of Canon has to be damned first.

Well… there are so many things that were scheduled for this chapter, but were changed after some planning and thinking. First, this chapter and the previous one are actually cramped together. The decision was made, that it won't have many details to tell if I do so. After all, my attention span quickly erodes after 6K words, and I don't want to skip those details.

I watched the trailer of Rebellion Story, and it's really awesome indeed. I challenge Urobuchi to make me have a social withdrawal syndrome with his story anytime, and this movie is not an exception.

For **Art**'s review, I don't think you understand. Mephistopheles is Homulilly, just on steroid because the incarnations of Homura meld together into her. Mephistopheles is Walpurgisnacht, thus the Stage-construction Witch as oppose to Homulilly's Mortal World Witch. I hope that sort it out.

The next chapter would be a bonus chapter that mostly has nothing to do with this story, but nevertheless important with it creation. Well met, my readers.


	8. Bonus: Meta

Remember the story about a magical girl who ascended into something that is more akin of a force of nature; where her best friend witnesses, from the moon, her floating in outer space clad in her long white dress of the very same starry sky in the inside of her skirt and an even longer locks of hair. An abomination that is 'herself' reaches out to her beloved home and she destroys 'herself' to protect it. Her voice rings clearly into the witness' ears, even though the physics demand it not to be so, for her friend to stay true and brave in facing the unforgivable world of Puellae Magi.

The moment is nothing but a fabrication, a romanticized illusion made to ease the black haired magical girl's mind from the true judgment of the ascension, where human mind cannot possibly comprehend the true nature of, no matter how simple, how similar, or how mundane when being compared with the worldly activities. The sight for what is beyond is not for mortal's eyes.

Madoka Kaname finds her face half submerged in water. Mentally exhausted from the wish that she made, she is confused with the new place. A vast plain made of white marble stone, smooth with occasional craters and shark fin-like rubbles seemingly resulted from battle, as far as she can see. Cloud in the sky is so thick, the sun trying to pry it open is never succeeding and only capable of making the cloud slightly tinted golden, accompanied by numerous green light ribbons dancing and shifting in an unknown rhythm.

"Where am I?"

She wonders out loud. The water reaches her ankle and makes her socks uncomfortably wet. 'Go home' her mind urges, 'Go home to your family and friends who worried about you' it continues. She nods in agreement, but she doesn't even know where she is.

Then, clanks of metal, reminds her of that time with the Mermaid Witch, clanks of armors and small, almost silent noises, of swords being unsheathed. Madoka gasps; suddenly she's surrounded by a dozen of armed warriors in many races and the seemingly nationalities, the men and women with unseen battle scars, lifting their weapons into her eye level. She stands rigid; fearing that if she takes a nervous step back, she will pierced herself into those weapons. A man, a beautiful man, with long silver hair and the same shade of silver for his eyes, demands to her, a simple notion that somehow makes her shivering.

"Your name?"

"M-Madoka Kaname, sir."

He nods and all of the warriors lower their weapons, sending a relieved sigh out from her lungs. One of those warriors, a younger blond-haired one than most of them, gives her his hand, which she accepts in courtesy. He smiles and asks her to follow them. Lost and confused, she doesn't really have any choice.

The worlds have many 'layers', they say. It was only one world at first, where eldritch named the Legion reside. One day, a scribe was born in the Legion and a new, lesser world was born from what they had written. Thus the first Creator was born. When the Creator creates, a world is born from their hands and creativity. The lowest of the layers, the place where 'human' have their living life. The Legion then will see what the Creator made; deciding if the world deserves a place in the void beyond, thus eternal and unforgotten and forever exist in the Record. Those in the world that exceptionally noted for their contribution in the world, the Legion will ascend them to the next layer, the Pantheon called by those who had ascended, where they are given knowledge of the layered worlds and the existence of the Legion, and effectively making them a god in their previous world.

When she makes her wish, the Legion deems her worthy of a place. Why they dropped her into the realm of gods, where the Endless Battlefield between order and chaos are staged, no one can be too sure. Maybe there's no reason at all.

Of course, the Legion has no obligation to do that. Just like how the Creator might has no reason to create a world other than just because, the Legion made the second layer simply because it amuse them to see all of those important figures in one place. In fact, all the Legion had done so far, including their shifting into the Creator to create a new world for the aforementioned reason, is simply for their amusement. Or maybe it's because their knowledge of the Legion is incomplete, they can't comprehend their way of thinking.

But even though they has had lifted her into the rank of gods, her existence as a new spirit is shaky at best, no thanks for the fickle nature of the Legion. The other gods will have their word on her placement in the Pantheon, and only after her position is stable, she could have her name written in the Record. Otherwise, it won't be too surprising if the Legion decides to be a bastard and abandon her in a realm unknown to her.

The warriors are those who fight in the Endless Battlefields, and are tasked to escort her to the Council of Gods for her placement. The walk is long and tiring but she can't concentrate to her exhausted muscle when her mind is filled with the revelation that someone somewhere may takes pleasure in all the suffering the magical girls have been through, something that even the Incubator will become horrified of. Are they crying when they watch the magical girls fall into their despair? Or are they instead laughing at their demises, making fun with their corpses and striving to make it worse in some way? She wants to know. She demands answer. Before she knows it, they had arrived in the Pantheon.

They are everywhere, watching her every move. There are many familiar faces, the one that she thought only exist in manga and books. Fictional people for her world but real in their own realms with permission of the original Creators for their usage in other worlds, exist in flesh and blood in the Pantheon, ready to deliver their judgment. Their murmurs are like the buzzing of angry bees, and somewhere in the middle of this ocean of people, a loud voice silences them.

"Dear ladies and gentlemen, we gather here to give our new sister a throne for her accomplishment in remaking the system bound to her race since the birth of time. Madoka Kaname, a magical girl born into a world with notoriously cynic and sadistic Creator, has shown us that the Legion is still capable of being moved to tears since the ascension of the Yamaku girls, and earns her place in the Pantheon by the Legion's own recommendation. The question is… where is it that she deserves?"

"No question, really." A voice retorts back, a woman in elaborative black gown-like kimono blows a soft puff of smoke from her long pipe. Her skin is pale, reminds her on Homura's, and her limbs are strangely long and thin. "If she's a magical girl, and her contribution is to lift the fate of magical girls, isn't it fitting that she becomes a representation of magical girl?"

Another voice, coming from a perfectly normal young man in his green blazer and school uniform, points out with a very heavy sarcasm in his voice, "As if we lack any magical girls in the Pantheon… Besides, there's a magical girl goddess here already."

All eyes suddenly focus to a person, a young girl that also looks ordinary besides the large white wings and a group of cherry blossoms that seemingly alive and encircles her in a gentle swirl. The girl, inattentive since the meeting started, at lost with the collective stares and let out a confused 'Hoeee~…' The first voice sighed.

"As the current Goddess of Magical Girl, do you, Sakura Kinomoto, have something to say? An objection, perhaps?"

"What? About her taking my place? It's fine, really."

"Do you understand that you might lose your place in the Pantheon by giving a verbal resignation in front of the entire Council? You have been supporting this realm since it was created, and to suddenly accept the exile?"

"Who say I will resign?" the girl, Sakura, stands from her seat and walks into the middle of room, where Madoka stands rigid. She hugs the pink haired girl's shoulder and smiles.

"I, Sakura Kinomoto, therefore resign my position as the representative of the magical girl to Madoka Kaname, from now until there's a reason to do otherwise." The room erupts into noises of disapproval and disbelieve before she holds up her hand in demand of attention, "Meanwhile, I, Sakura Kinomoto, propose a new position in the Pantheon. Representative of the Collector of the Collectible, how is that sounds?"

"That's sounds stupid." The green blazer young man deadpans as Sakura mewls in disappointment, "But this realm has records of making some really stupid names for their deities already, so why not?"

"I'm suggesting changing the name into something that is more specific, like the Collector of Magical Items or something like that. There's already a deity for Collector Across the Media in the Commerce House."

Thus the ascension of Madoka Kaname as goddess of Magical Girl and her preceded goddess's change of title. Her ascension grants her the power to change the law of her own world and completing her right in the equal exchange of her wish; but as she faces her own despair, she realizes that even though she erases herself from existence in the so called mortal world, she still exist in the Pantheon. As long she exists, then her Witch will also exist, along with the Witches of all Puellae Magi she destroys. The only way to destroy the Witches completely, she has to destroys the soul of the magical girls.

That won't do, so she asks the other deities of the place where she could relocate the Witches. All of them point at a place in the Holy Domains where such purpose is possible. The Mayonaka TV, or more commonly known as the Midnight Channel. She will visit a Puella Magi when their Soul Gem darkens and absorbs their despair to be sent to the realm, while she personally ascends the magical girl into her personal space she makes in the House of Spell and Magic.

Knowing the true story of their struggle and the fate that they barely avoided, the ascended magical girls are eternally grateful and become her loyal army without her truly agreeing with the notion. You are free and will remain free even from my influence, Madoka once says in front of her entire domain and subjects. But no one really listen to her about that one, and Madoka decides to give up about it.

Her action of ascending her entire kind of magical girl makes quite a fuss in the court, and her becoming a quite controversial figure by proxy. Imbalance in the Pantheon from overpopulation becomes a popular excuse to demote Madoka Kaname from the Pantheon. Another reason is because from every magical girl she takes to her realm, her despair becomes stronger and she becomes even stronger than that despair in return in wake of her wish. Five thousand years from a timeline worth of Puellae Magi of the world's history already elevates her status as a newborn Lesser to a Greater Goddess, it isn't impossible for her to turn into Overdeity by the time her world finally ends.

They fear that she will use the power and the army to overthrow the Main House. Those in the Main House themselves aren't that worried, on the other hand. She's too kind, there's no way she could do that, one thing that we truly believe in this 'colorful' band of misfits is that Madoka Kaname has no motivation to be an overlord; such reasons are used even by the most jaded and fully supported by those who reside in the House of Emotion. Madoka mostly ignores those whispers, and focuses on waiting her friends' arrival in the realm in between.

It's no surprise when Sayaka is the first arrives in the Pantheon. Dying more heroically than most of the time, but the Legion is less kind in her ascension. Along the course of the timelines and all of each of the possible ends, Sayaka is always the thing that breaks the Legion's opinion in the middle. This is also the instance where Madoka sees the first hand of how the Legion communicates with and acknowledges them. Warns the Pantheon of their arrival with thousands upon thousands of voices murmuring in each and every floor of the Houses until it's almost maddening, they whispers their thought without restrain, mercy, and morality but with a surprising intelligence and reason. If only they stop swearing and fighting among each other.

One side argues that she's a weak willed individual; compares on the other members of Mitakihara cast, she has less motivation to fall from grace in such way that makes her looks like a self-absorbed, selfish, and ignorant brat. After then, they call her names, visualize her being violated, and challenge the other side of their thought, with 'Why Sayaka is such a bitch?' phrase as propaganda. The other side, meanwhile, does not deny the fact that Sayaka is weak willed, but instead points out that she's the most humane by making her background rooted in an everyday life. They also don't really silent with their counterpart's opinion, calling them hypocrite and saying that Sayaka's case hit just too close to home.

Such debates often make the Pantheon questions about how the real Legion lives their life.

But one thing that they agree of is that Sayaka is tragic. And such consideration places her firm as the representative of the Fallen Magical Girl, a title that she really resents because it reminds her so much about her failures. As if it's not enough to immortalize her in a way that she hates, her Oktavia self every so often escapes from the Mayonaka and takes over her personality, thus proving one thing that makes some of the Legion hates her.

The second one is Homura, an arrival that slightly surprises her. Indeed, in this realm past, present, and future mean nothing and all of the people inhabit the place are conglomeration of various versions of themselves. Several councils and debates were called just to formalize what tense they should use when referring to themselves. But Homura has survived longer than most in the lower layer and still alive in several incarnations and timelines, and such she has no right to be ascended yet. But here she is, right in front of the entire council just like her the first time. Madoka asks a Warrior of Cosmos of it, and the small elf girl says because the Legion likes her, or maybe it's her attitude and skill that they like, so very much.

"They can be distracted with a large enough explosion, after all…" she quickly adds.

Several gods and goddesses who have experience with time travel and alternate universe seem to hold her in high esteem, even Bernkastel.

The gathering finishes faster than any previous. The Legion actually bothers to reserve a place for her. Two, actually. In the House of Magic, they place her as the herald of the Goddess of Magical Girl. The reason for this position? The Legion answers by conjuring a pair of eyebrows and wags them suggestively, a notion that sends the House of Love into a riot. Both Madoka and Homura mostly silence about this, but the representative of Girls Love is said to have a chat about it and the tussle ends before it starts. The second place is in the House of Time, as the representative of those time travelers who use their knowledge of future to outcome their obstacles, or Retroactive Preparation to be short.

But several whispers surfaces that her exact title is actually time traveler who use their knowledge of future to outcome their obstacles but ends up failing because things outside ones' knowledge, which is a different thing altogether. Everyone agrees that the title is too pretentious and mouthful.

Beside Manhattan is a God of Fatalism already, with a higher status to boot.

The Incubator is the next. Knowing the history of emotionless escapades from various Puellae Magi who had ascended, the entire House of Emotion hates them with anger of thousand suns. Meanwhile, a certain Chaos God in the Mentalism House whispers 'Just as planned' as the white mascot accepted (but can't really be classified as god or goddess for various reasons) in the House of Commerce, as the representative of deal with the devil. The revelation that Tzeentch somehow manipulates (most likely his Creator inspires the Puellae Magi's Creator) the equal exchange of Puellae Magi contract unto an endless circle of hope and despair for giggles sends those same magical girls to declare war on him and his followers, with every meeting between those sides ends with clashing until the places they use as battlefield always lays wasted afterward.

The Incubator on the other hand only becomes a little wary for any other trickery. Tzeentch's action is baseless, after all, and it would be such a waste if magical girls die because of that. Not that Homura can be negotiated about a possible alliance of the Puellae and the Incubator; the trauma is too fresh to be forgotten like that.

Mami Tomoe is the fourth. Actually, she's not alone in ascension. Charlotte the Dessert Witch also comes in package. Mami Tomoe is many things, which unfortunately forgotten with an infamous case of surprising demise even in the Pantheon. Of all things that she could be the representative of, the Council of Gods gives her title of Early Deaths, or as the high priest of Despair of the Endless rants and thus falls to despair from, those who die early in the plot just to show that the world's plot is not something to shit with, and Charlotte as the Harbinger of Early Deaths.

Mami ascends after one time she doesn't murder suicide her friends in one timeline, after she shows her fortitude in battle against the Mad Prophet Oriko Mikuni and her lackey, and the circumstance of the Witches doesn't hit her as fatally as some cases, she and Charlotte get along pretty well.

Not that anyone remember about that one detail and continue to speak like her role in the world is to shout her finishing blow and get nommed by the Dessert Witch. The Creator and the Legion also don't let her go about it either, adding a timeline where she gets mogu mogu'd that leads to the might be worst death for Sayaka. The magical girls are no amused.

Mami for some odd reason become the Legion's alternative punching bag, but in a not really malicious way. They will come to the Pantheon, turn her into a super deformed version of herself with strange beady eyes, constantly makes her shaking on her hip, and only allows her to articulate in Portuguese, Spanish, and sometimes Italian. No one really sure how it starts; but sometimes, without warning, they just do. It's kind of cute and pretty harmless, Madoka has to be honest.

It takes a pretty long time, but finally Kyouko gets ascended to the House of Food as the representative of Pocky and always eating something in every scene she's in. Her arrival doesn't incite many fanfares, even though according on some source she's in second place of the Legion's popularity of Puellae Magi. Not that it bothers her; she only has her eyes on one person, after all.

Her skill is recognized by many, but her chaotic nature makes her presence isn't something that the inhabitants of the Pantheon waited. However, those with a same chaotic alignment will seek her like moth to fire, and many of the wilder spirits of the Throne enjoy partying in her House like the hedonist they are. Kyouko's power of illusionary 'seduction' has been confirmed as dormant, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have her own natural charm; which really explains the attraction she has for the Legion, as that collective consciousness is as chaotic as the ceiling of the House of Magic.

With all of her friends finally arrive in the Pantheon, Madoka Kaname, now better known as Penitent Gretchen, found that this eternal life is extremely monotonous except for the occasional attacks of the Land of Disgrace, clashes with the Chaos Gods, and fleeing Witches. Her duty is necessary and she knows that she wants to do it by her own will, but she starts to look at each Magical Girl with impersonal eyes, flashes them an impersonal smile, and caresses their Soul Gem with impersonal strokes. Her essences that she spreads out toward the unfortunate souls in alternate worlds no longer hold the same warmth that older girls had honor to see; and with that, her image as savior and benevolent Goddess turns into a distant memory. A legend, one can say, and the younger girls will stare in disbelieve at how their sisters describing a deity that doesn't sound like the one they intended to describe.

The one who she shares tea with at the moment only grins toothily at the lack of her usual shine. It's been awhile since the last time they met, and it ended as violently as their meetings usually end. But this time, no. She brought with her anything but weapons, even though her subjects are now butting head with the rest of Mayonaka's residents so they can have their time together.

"_Finally catching up on you, no?"_

Penitent Gretchen frowns, which only makes her grin widens. Black sclera and red irises are watching in amusement before closing to completely enjoy the scalding goodness of Mami-san's famous Earl Grey. Seeing that the musketeer uses this blend of tea to drown her sorrow, the implication of this tryst is quite clear.

"_You can't defeat me, Penitent… After all, you have to lose to defeat me."_

"I'm not going to argue about that anymore."

"_Very well,"_ her guest sipped her tea long and deep, _"But I'm not going to shut up about it either way."_

"Are those alliterations not enough to show you that if you go with your plan, it just shows that we both lose? The wish tortures you as much as the me that hatched you."

Those red eyes rise in a slow and mocking way, almost in a motion of sarcastic rolling. Like she indulge in satisfaction of making her squirms and tripping in her words. Sound of battle; explosions and sword clashes, magic being slung from punches and gestures, fists crushing bones and armors alike. The entire Mayonaka shakes as Puellae Magi lock their blade against their Witch counterparts. Penitent watches the overhead chandelier warily as a debris falls to the red carpet. The castle that hued red, a fitting place for bloodshed, in a way.

"_Exactly… I became like this directly because of the wish, so I grew to accept my part. I was born like this; I don't know how to life the other way. Do you think whose faults is it that I become this way? I just go the way that I believe, just like you. But…"_

Slender fingers clasp with each other and her opposite props her head on the entwined digits.

"_You somewhat disappoint me… I thought you're better than this."_

"I'm sorry, Kriemhild. Not yet, I think."

An explosion, and it shakes the chandelier off the ceiling to the table between them. The great red bird flies away, screeching incoherently. A wall topples and piles of bodies and limbs floods in the room along with their battle cries. A stray blast shoots the bird down, leaving the broken avian stares in horror as one eyed knight in black rises its gnarled tree-like claws in berserk frenzy toward a group of charging Puellae, which unfortunately also in her general direction. Both incarnations of Gretchen sigh.

"So much for a peaceful evening tea…"

"_It's evening? More like midnight for me." _

Penitent rolls her eyes at the bad pun. Push themselves away from destroyed table, they stands in amidst battle. Flashes of light, pink and red, and their bows are in hands.

"One of these days… I'm going to make up with you, Kriemhild."

"_Try me, then. And don't forget about those Incubators too. And our Creator, for that matter. You don't know what they will plan ahead." _Kriemhild combs through her hair, pulling a twisted bolt from behind her ears.

"I'll keep that in mind." Penitent notches an arrow, "Shall we?"

"_Let's."_

Another battle is being sung in these great halls. One of many that had and will come as each aspects of one clash in a never ending battle between hope and despair. Which one shall topples first? Everyone is asking the same question, with no answer in sight.

**End of the Pilot**

**88888**

The aforementioned unconnected-with-the-rest-of-the-story chapter; this is _**the**_ first form of this fic, before I changed the entire premise into the one that you familiar with. At first, what I meant with 'Observation' is that of the observation of characters from the eyes of the fans. The Pantheon is exist, one of the thing that is clear even though not many know about its existence. The way that fans see the character; their analysis, their treatment toward the character traits whether it's hate or love, and even the inner jokes only those in the wretched hive 4chan can understand. Not all are pleasant or appropriate for the other fans who don't think in such way, but what is fandom without some assheads and infighting?

Why I change the premise? Because I think if I do so, then status quo is still an unbreakable wall. I found the way a story ends with status quo is cheap, especially if it's fanfiction. I mean, fanfiction is already an AU to begin with; even though you have a canon standard to uphold, it's fanfiction's job to add something that isn't in the show. And by doing that, at least you can have a little satisfaction for being a little creative with the source materials.

Speaking of source materials, can you guess the cameo in this chapter? Whether it's the setting or the characters.


	9. Kyousuke Kamijou

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

_The shadowy figure stopped herself from churning out any more detail. But those details were enough to silence the grey haired boy, who can only stared at the tip of his feet. Ungratefulness and ignorance were actually going back longer than he imagined, and it was actually enforced. _

**88888**

**4 May 2011**

Danger had passed, and their life started to go back to their schedules. First day of school spent to get used with his surroundings. Kyousuke Kamijou stared far and long into the destroyed portion of the city, where the bridge had collapsed and building destroyed. The path he usually takes to go to school was marred by cracks and uprooted trees; with the earthquake and storm that were so strong that he could even feel from behind the thick and heavy window glass of the evacuation site.

But what his attention was focused on the most was that one explosion.

Something has happened, and that wasn't a storm.

The school was mostly okay, with just several windows shattered. It was impressive because the entire place was made of glass. The facilities were functioning smoothly like there was nothing happen other than those closest to the general direction of the industrial sector. Their days were going on like nothing happen. It was strange, it was abnormal, it was like there's someone or something making sure that their lives are unaffected by passing disaster.

Why? How? His curiosity was tingling. So much so that he didn't realize that several people were not attending the class until they were bursting in from the door and apologizing to the math teacher for their tardiness.

Sayaka, Kaname-san, and that transfer student Akemi-san were sporting wounds warped in gauzes and braces and their uniforms were rolled at several places to provide enough room for the wounds to heal. Sayaka had her neck on brace and both arms on sling. Kazama-sensei was worried that her wounds were to severe for her to attend class, and little teasingly spoke out loud that Sayaka would letting go a chance to miss a day of school, but she indignantly ensured that she could still take notes even with her arms on sling.

Kaname-san was the lightest of the wounded, only has her neck warped in bandage. She walked to her seat without a word after getting permission. But when she walked pass him, her uniform's collar fell just a bit and he saw a puncture wound was going through the middle of her throat that still bleeding, something that should left her half dead on hospital bed.

It was Akemi-san that drew most eyes. Left half of her entire body and face were bandaged, leaving no skin visible on those parts, and if one could take a good look on the bandage, it was bulging in some places like small veins and wrinkled fabric. Kazama-sensei asked them what the hell was going on to them and they answered that before the storm they, Sayaka and Akemi-san and some others, had a sleepover and evacuated late, trapped in the middle of the breaking bridge when they went across. Kaname-san who had realized that her friends weren't in the evacuation center, braved her way through the storm to save them. A bit idealized story of heroism, but those wounds were not because of falling down the stairs for sure.

What exactly happen so they had injured in such way, they said it's better if they not disclosed it.

After the hype died down, the day continued to be ordinary.

Again, just like how she did since his first day in school after his hospitalization, Sayaka immediately went to the roof with Kaname-san and Akemi-san before he has a chance to speak to her. As they marched to their destination, he observed as a senior who watched Sayaka's performance greeted them and followed them to the roof. Were they created a clique? But how did it started? What had united those different-backgrounded girls together? At this kind moment, he realized that he knew almost nothing about her so called best friend.

Again, he remembered. The first time they met. A little girl wearing lavender dress run down to the back stage with starry eyes and excitedly fawned over his performance. He was in his 'girls have cooties' stage, so he thought nothing of this girl as nothing but annoyance. Imagine his grossed out face when he found out that their mothers were friends in high school, thus forcing him to be friend with this girl. But this girl, Sayaka, so earnestly watching him play, so genuine in her love for the sound of his bow sings out a tune. Having an audience watching him play always makes him happy, and he started to appreciate her existence.

But was that enough? Being acknowledged is not the same as her friendship with Kaname-san, who understood every nook and cranny of her thought with a simple glance, whose friendship was so deep they protected each other's back without really conscious of it. He gave out nothing for their friendship, and she only takes what he love the most as her own. She loved what he loved, and saying that it was enough for her.

How selfish, how ignorant.

What a friend, he is!

He wanted to make up for everything. To say sorry and all that. But then he remembered, Akemi-san's threat, and his resolve vaporized almost immediately.

She slipped through his fingers without him knowing, and now he regrets it.

"I'm home…"

His voice was weak, something that his mother noticed.

"Welcome. What's the matter, Kyousuke? Have a fight with your girlfriend?"

"No… it's not Shizuki-san…" his mother hummed a sad note.

"It's Sayaka-chan, isn't it?"

He looked up to his mother, slight bewildered at the bull's-eye. The woman only rolled her eyes in indignation.

"I'm your mother. Do you think I don't know this kind of things?"

"Well… it's just sometimes I don't think you care about such things."

"Maybe I am… or maybe because I was, I become used to give out such reaction." Kyousuke took notice of a particular detail.

"Was…?"

The mother sighed, so deeply and sadly. She sat on their sofa and gestured him to take a seat beside her. He watched with a curiosity akin of a child when his mother pulled out her wallet and produced an old photo. Slightly browning with age, but the picture still in a good condition like his mother has taken a good care of it. It was a photo of three people; two young girls sitting on a bench while a middle-aged man patting their shoulders.

He recognized the brown haired girl as his mother. Same tubby cheeks and how she brings herself. But her expression, that haughty and snobby smile, was completely unfamiliar. Then he focused on the other girl. Long black hair with a thick strand at the middle of her face, stoic frown that somehow carries responsibility, brownish red eyes that peered with such intensity that makes him knew she was full of life even though her face never showed it. The intensity that he only ever saw in Sayaka when he took several seconds to observe her.

"I had a sister, you know. I never told you about her at all." His mother began, "Our relationship wasn't exactly ideal. Never was…"

She stroked the girl's picture in nostalgia.

"She always got what she wanted and did everything in the way that people will admire her work, or so I always thought. What I never considered was… she was the dutiful one. She did both of our responsibility without complain. She got everything she wanted because she deserved it, except for one thing… Do you know what is it?"

"Freedom…" his mother nodded.

"Yes. What she really wanted was to hang out with her friends, to talk with them for hours in the phone, to have a boyfriend," she chuckled a little at this, "But she can't, because everyone had their eyes on her, because everyone expected her to be perfect, and she became perfect because of that. I didn't see that. I was young, stupid, and jealous."

"Suddenly, one night, she spoke to me. She said that she might not long for this world. Do you know what I said to her? 'Then just go die already'. Yes, I said that to her, and she really didn't go home that night. The next morning, she was found, seemingly jumped from that unfinished building's top floor in the middle of the city. At first, knowing that, I was ecstatic."

Kyousuke could not believe his ears. His mother, the gentle and domesticated Yukari Kamijou, was such a cruel thing in her teenage years? It sounds almost blasphemous! She then continued recounting her story, but Kyousuke already put two on two together. Such expectation won't just disappear even if the heir passed away, and now at the center of it all, her mother handled the pressure much worse because she never used with such responsibility.

"When I understood what my sister felt, everything was already ruined. Our father lost his hope and his will to life, married me off to your father, my sister's best friend, just so we can keep our business afloat at good hands before dying on alcohol poisoning. Your father… he hated me for several years, even after you were born, because he thought it was my faults. He was right, in a way... But one day we spent our time talking, and we agreed to let her memory no longer weight our lives, just so we won't sully her anymore with our petty feud. All because I never empathized, and it ended because I made an effort to do it."

Kyousuke averted his eyes when his mother tried to steal a look on his.

"Do you understand why Sayaka-chan avoids you? Because you avoided her first. You make her think that now you're healthy and fine, you no longer need her even though your reason to do it wasn't that. Try to understand her more. Reach out for her, son. Make her remember, and don't let yourself become like me, regretting a failed relationship for as long as you live. She's your best friend, after all."

He sat rigid long after his mother retreated to her room, his mind was a convoluted mess of emotions and thoughts.

But then, he steeled himself for the day after.

**88888**

"You're leaving?"

He heard Sayaka sobbed pitifully in front of the redhead. From his place behind the pastry brick wall, he saw the delinquent sighed in annoyance but her face said otherwise. She nudged a box of pocky to Sayaka's cheek and offered the delicacy to her. Sayaka took a piece and munched on it, but still didn't stop crying. He shared the redhead's grossed out wince when Sayaka snorted in her particularly long melting snot.

"That's frickin' gross…"

"Sorry…"

She rubbed her tears to her shoulders, her arms still bounded into sling. Now he had a good look on the redhead, he noticed her daisy duke covered legs were replaced by longer shorts and the remaining skin exposed was bandaged. Whoever this girl is, she was there when Sayaka and the other were hurt. The redhead tossed her long ponytail and stared out far to the street.

"Even though we try to save as many as we can, six Puellae Magi are too much for a city. Some of us have to move out."

"Then I'll go with you."

"You're crazy! You still have family here."

"My mother won't notice me gone until the school shouts it in front of her face."

"Madoka will be lonely without you."

"She has Homura and Mami-san already."

"You didn't hear what she said at the lunch time? Homura will leave too."

"What? Why? This city needs her."

"She won't tell me or Mami her reason. But I'm sure she also has something to seek out there." The redhead pointed to Sayaka with an exaggerated gesture, "While you? You have it easy here. Do you know that the Rogues have to be that rat's leg breakers just so we can have enough Seed to feed on? Yuma has to face it sooner or later, preferably sooner if she wants to live. You, meanwhile, have a territory lush for reaping. You don't have to be like me."

"What about you? What about us?"

The redhead looked like she wanted to rip her hair out in frustration, but not because of Sayaka's question. She turned, facing the blue haired girl, and her eyes softened.

"I'll visit you often."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Sayaka smiled wide, but quickly turned into frown. They started to walk away from the front of the food court, and he followed not far behind. Kyousuke twisted his mind at those terminologies, thinking the possibility that her childhood friend actually joined some kind of dangerous organization.

"Seriously, what is Homura thinking? Leaving Mitakihara?"

"Too single-minded in her pursue of Walpurgisnacht, she might have a bit of identity issue or goal in life, maybe? The Princess really needs to meet some of the old Puellae. Maybe that way, she can contribute more for our kind. She has more organized resources for their researches, after all." Sayaka tilted her head in confusion.

"Old? There are old Puellae Magi?"

"Of course there are. Do you think that there's no probability of some girl surviving pass their teenage years?"

"I don't know. Mami-san never says anything about old Puellae Magi."

"That explains it. Mami might have a general understanding of the system, but she never knows about the deeper mechanism because there's no ancient in Mitakihara. Too comfortable with her own habitat, she neglects outside force other than as threat for her territory."

"How do they look like? Are they strong?"

"Oh, they're plenty of strong! I fought one of them when I messed with a Puella Magi from the territory she looks after and I tried to farm in. She kicked my ass so hard; the scar can never heal even with Yuma's talent."

"Wow… maybe I should take a look of that one."

"Don't be stupid. Why would you search for trouble against them? I heard many things about those fossils, and it's not really pleasant. For one, I heard that many of Japan's ancients were students of some blood thirsty warmonger called-"

They rounded the corner! His sub consciousness screamed. He had to chase after them, to extract as many information he could before concluding what he should do next.

But they weren't there.

Disappear like dust blown by the wind; with no sign of them as far as the alleyway go.

How?

He searched for any possible escape. No fire escape stairs, no door. Suddenly his blood run ice cold. They didn't notice his presence, right? He wildly searched his surrounding, inwardly chastised himself for being paranoid but can't really help it. There was no one who paying attention to the middle schooler snooping around the alleyway between two food court buildings. He sighed in both relief and self-depreciation.

But for some reason, his heartbeat just won't stop from exploding itself.

The boy raised his eyes, and at the other side of the street, a boy closer to his age stood. Wearing plain white shirt and black shorts, he was tall and moderately muscular; physical features that immediately reminded him of those of foreigners, especially combined by his blond hair. The blond boy only stood there, watching him sweated himself in place with those unblinking red eyes that somehow made him felt like being watched by many.

A truck came passing, and the blond boy disappeared without trace like two girls he had been tailing.

He run as fast as he could toward his house.

Laid on his back, he rearranged his thought. He was going to talk with Sayaka before she met that redhead. In denial that his childhood friend would be friend with a delinquent, he followed those two just to satisfy his ever growing curiosity. But that conversation, those terms; territory, strong, leg breakers? Was Sayaka joined a gang? Or worse, the Yakuza? And Akemi-san has something to do with it? Is that why the redhead called her Ojou-sama?

And that boy…

Kyousuke suddenly felt afraid.

But he can't give up now. He has to straighten everything with Sayaka. Has to make amend for everything.

The most important thing is to find out just what kind of mess that Sayaka has involved herself to. Should he call the police? The thing is he has no proof, and calling the police will attract her, and possibly her associates', attention to him. But he was alone; he can't infiltrate the inner working without being noticed either way. Not to mention the risk of horrible things that might happen to him if it's true that Sayaka was with the Yakuza.

'What should I do…?'

His state of mind skids his desire to train his playing to halt, and spending time browsing internet yielded nothing but the knowledge that the image board was in riot over a new magical girl show. Is this how it feels to be so tunnel-visioned to his goal?

Tomorrow he will start his investigation again…

**88888**

Sayaka was with Kaname-san this time. Just walking around the town, hanging out like they usually do. Maybe this day will also-

"In lunch break, Homura-chan said that she'll going to search for someone after she officially signed her transfer papers. I told her my dream when I was inside Gretchen, and she told me that." Kaname-san mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Just like that? She told you everything after you told her your dream?" Sayaka threw her arms behind her head, neck still in brace, "Just what is your dream anyway?"

"I saw her dying in the hospital, when there's no Puellae Magi system in this world. I told her that her dream self confessed she almost arson people to death when she was five, and I asked if it's true to her too. She said yes."

"What the hell…?" Sayaka vocalized his thought perfectly.

"She said that now Walpurgisnacht is over, she wants to search for someone that she had forgotten… Do you think, because I said anything about her old orphanage, she remembered someone from there?"

"Very unlikely. If she really burnt down the place, then she will stand clear from there."

"Or maybe someone else? Her parents… perhaps?"

There was a flash in Sayaka's eyes.

"…Maybe."

At the time, he bailed out of the eavesdropping. He had more information and terms under his belt. Walpurgisnacht, the gathering of the witches, occurs every April the 30th or May the 1st, is a festivity of supernatural. Those dates meant that Walpurgisnacht happened in Mitakihara, and Sayaka and those who were with her in the 'sleepover' were involved in it. Maybe that storm and explosions in those dates also has something to do with it.

…

"Ahahaha… a search about Sayaka's connection with the Yakuza suddenly devolved into supernatural investigation? I'm more tired than I think I am…"

But there's still one terminology that he not yet found out the meaning of. Puellae Magi? A Latin? He absent-mindedly typed the phrase in the online Latin translation, and the result made him inched closer to his monitor.

_The female slaves of the deceiver_

Whose slaves? Then he remembered about what the redhead had said about their work, the part about working as the 'rat's' leg breakers. This 'rat' somehow binds these girls into working with him, and not in a pleasant way. He became a little sick in the stomach. Why only girls? The next possible interpretation of the phrase somehow answered that.

_Magical girls_

Those words clicked something at the back of his mind. Opened another tab on his browser, he searched the thread in the image board for that internet riot from previous day. His legs might lose their strength if he wasn't sitting on chair.

The riot wasn't about a rumor of a new magical girls show. It was a riot over a video about a real life magical girl's existence. Recorded by amateur cameraman but with a surprisingly good quality video, dated on April the 30th at 22.57 until May the 1st 03.06, depicting a lightshow and several rain-blurred images of girls dressed in colorful outfits fighting a giant shadow which breaths fire and throws skyscrapers around. The original recording has been deleted by an unknown third party, but it was already copied by hundreds of users from online sources.

For the next several hours, Kyousuke Kamijou watched a video of girls fighting for their lives against an unknown adversary, using such battle techniques that completely inhuman. The red one sent out several giant segmented spears from under the ground to the giant shadow, a horrible screeching sound of metal jamming against metal was so deafening he had to turn the speaker volume down, as she screamed incoherently in a language that consisted of sounds of cackling fire.

The blue one leaped the distance between her and the shadow along with the red one, but had to break her dash when the shadow sent debris flying. On the other hand, the black streak broke through the assault of building pieces to take a shot on the shadow. The blue one then screamed at the red one when she witnessed the black one was engulfed in fire spew in retaliation; a sound of distorted violin strings was answered by fire eating up dry woods, and yet those girls understood each other's language.

Each girl spoke in a language, bizarre for the onlookers and unique to them, and yet they understood each other.

The sight was horrible, the girls sustaining injuries that definitely led up to gruesome deaths. Crushed by buildings, sliced vertically at the shoulder to waist, speared in the torso by gigantic lengthened nails.

Then, there was a pillar of pink light. That pillar of light shot an arrow at the giant shadow, which had transformed into a more traditional witch with robe and hat and gained wings that made of starry sky, and the arrow pierced both the purple streaked magical girl and the witch at once. The shadow fell into the wasted battlefield and went silent.

Afterward, it was quiet. There's no movement for several moments, and the recording jumped forward for about one hour when there was a rumbling sound. Suddenly, another pillar of light, made of blackness of that giant shadow, went through the stormy clouds and they parted, revealing the morning sky and glorious sun marking the victory for a hopeless battle.

The recording was ended there.

He was blown away by the depiction of violence and dead-or-alive situation so not like the magical girl genre had promoted. Checking the responds of the video, he found that most people are skeptical with the event. People were screaming hoax for the entire duration of the video, but some actually believed it was happened. A user, seemingly from Mitakihara, screen-captured several shots of the video and took some photograph, with a better quality, from the presumably battlefield, with the notable scene being pointed out with bright red arrows and circles.

People of Mitakihara actually believing that it was happening and showing proofs that destruction of their city was because of the magical girl fight. After all, no matter how hard a storm, there's no way it can ripped skyscrapers from their foundation without destroying the entire city.

Speculations surfaced with the testimonies and, as per usual of the image board's anonymous, imagination run wild of their, magical girl's, circumstance of fighting. Are there aliens who give them their power? What is their mission? What is that shadow? But a question is the most important of them all.

Can they be captured and interrogated to answer those questions?

He feared that happened for real. He took a good look on the blue magical girl, and she strikes him as familiar. Bob haircut and her way of walking before she had to limp in battle.

'Sayaka…'

It started to make sense if one can stop being skeptic about the existence of magic. His hand was healed in one night, Sayaka talked about miracle and magic are exist the day before, she bonding with people that otherwise won't have a connection of. What about the other girls? Kaname-san and Akemi-san, that sleepy-eyed senior, the red haired delinquent. They talked about territory, a fighting between magical girls, which means that they were not the only one.

What did she do that she was involved in all of these?

Then he remembered.

He was losing hope, and she could not convince him that it wasn't true.

Miracle and magic are exist.

At what cost?

Her fighting abomination and risking death every time she goes out to fulfill her part of the bargain?

Just so his hand can be healed?

He stared in horror at the hand that she healed.

He was the worst. He always took her presence for granted. What a friend he is, indeed…

But he has to see it with his own eyes.

It was late, half past nineteen. But he has to speak with her, just once. Convince her that he knows everything; convince her that his opinion of her won't change.

But again he stopped. What was his opinion of her anyway? A good friend? Something more? What about Shizuki-san? He was desperate for an option where he doesn't have to feel obligate to grant his affection, that makes him start a relationship within an equal standing between him and his chosen; and Sayaka did something that makes him obligates more than affection. His life, his future, his dream. Everything he has, he obligates them to Sayaka.

What is this?

Why it becoming like this?

Something sneaked its way to his body.

Something warped around his eyes.

His vision went black.

**88888**

He groaned, his cheek felt cold at the contact of something hard and smooth. He didn't remember he went asleep, though. Then his mind clicked, something had knocked him unconscious. Sitting up quickly was a poor choice, on the other hand. His head went dizzy for several seconds.

_Be careful. You might fell from the arm._

He looked down, and immediately regretted it. Falling to his backside at the sight of the endless chasm under him, he noted the bizarre realm his kidnapper was putting him in. Sky akin of a dome made of monochrome stained glass; the only color exist, with even him was just a silhouette, was from a large torch-like structure held by the giant statue which arm he was on. Another silhouette knelt in front of the torch, humming the merry tune of the unseen pipe organ's background music as she clasped her hands in prayer.

"W-Who are you…? What is it that you want?"

_I was… mistaken, actually. I'm going to meet a friend of mine that I haven't met for a long time, but I guess I kidnapped a wrong person._

He could feel a smile in the statement.

"Can you take me home then?"

_I want see your face for a bit longer. You actually look like someone I want to meet. I'm not long for this world, so I want to meet him. But I guess it impossible now, I had lost my chance to go out unnoticed._

The silhouette stood up. She inched closer, and he could see that her figure absorbed every light around her. A living shadow, towering over him and watching him with a pair blank white eyes. She touched his cheek, a notion that sent shiver down his spine for more than one reason. The hands were cold, colder than Mitakihara's winter, but they caressed him with such fondness that he didn't mind the cold at all even though he's shivering.

_You really look just like him._

"Who are you…?"

_I'm the one the Puellae Magi called the Witch, but those who know me called me Elsa Maria."_

"Witch…"

_Someone is going to kill me today… Best if you get out of here as fast as you can. I'm sorry for my selfishness, it was uncalled for…_

A sheep-headed tendril rubbed its face on his arm, nudging him to follow it. Looking over his shoulder, he dragged his feet away. Another presence, terrible and hostile, intruded itself into the serene nuance of the realm that he himself felt it. A girl, looked like she barely in pre-teen, had her face covered in wedding veil except for strands of silvery hair.

She smiled in such a cruel sneer.

"I heard rumor about a Witch who still has her sentience, so I decided to take a look."

_Tell me your intention, and I might grant you the hospitality of quick death._

"My… how hasty. I know you're one of the oldest Witches around here, so it's not like I'm going to provoke troubles with you. No… I'm going to ask question and be done with it."

_Then…_

"I want to ask you a question about my target."

_Ah… the Incubator's leg breaker. It's rare for a rogue to penetrate a territory full of Puellae Magi unnoticed._

"Yeah, and all that. Now listen, I'm looking for a Puella that just refused to stay dead. I heard from the rat, that you know many things about girls around here, and this girl is one of them."

_I need name._

"Does An Akagi click something in your head?"

_A-An Akagi…That's impossible, she's dead long before I turned into Witch. She was killed, by her own father, for her insurance money and her body had since long cremated. We all saw it, her body… there's nothing left of her. Surely, her Soul Gem also didn't survive without its vessel._

"Are you sure?"

_Why taking such an interest to a dead girl? Did the Incubator told you specifically that this 'An Akagi' is your target? I don't think they believe things like reincarnation._

"Oh, right… you don't know what happened out there. Then, let me enlighten you, Witch. Walpurgisnacht has been destroyed, yay. The entire Puellae Magi population rejoices at the news. But not so much when the battle itself has been leaked to the normals."

_And the connection to Akagi? _

"But the rat was sure that she's the culprit. He already mobilized an entire division of crackers just to trace the one who spread the recording, and do you know what they found? Zip, nada, like a footprints on muddy soil that suddenly jumped into water. The rat was sure that Akagi was the one, after he got the report, saying that her power is practically suitable for that."

_That ridiculous! An empath can't do something like technology manipulation, especially something that can even fool the technomancers. Their crafts only affect the living, and her 'seduction' is not that special of a power._

The Witch shook her head.

_You're going in a wild goose chase, girl. Go home, you're wasting your time._

"No… not yet. I noticed that you twitched at the 'leaked to normals' part. Not to mention that the rat seems to be very worried about the possibility of it happens. Something that you fossils seem to hide? What actually is going to happen if the masquerade is broken?"

_I have no obligation to tell you…_

"Is that so?"

The intruder shrugged and turned away. Elsa Maria seemed to sigh in relief, with that slight rise of her chest, but still didn't let her snake things calming down in the girl's presence.

_Is that it? Are you really a leg breaker?_

"Yes. But if that something that you, and maybe all the ancients, hide actually worries that rat, then it might be interesting to watch…" she looked over her shoulder, neck craned and head tilted to a side, "If there's a chance to spread chaos appears in front of me, then I won't miss it."

He gulped loudly. This girl is evil, he thought. The Witch frowned at the retreating back, but nevertheless granted her an escape out of her barrier. He went out of his hiding place, completely forgot that he supposed to get out of the barrier and not eavesdropping. But the Witch commented nothing about his reappearance, opting to go back kneeling in front of the torch-like structure.

"Is there… anything that I can help you with?"

_There's nothing._

"To be honest… I'm curious too about it. What is going to happen if people, these 'normals', know about the existence of Puellae Magi?"

…_I don't remember… telling you about the Magi part…_

"One of my friends, I suspect, is one. I watched the recording of the Walpurgisnacht's fight not long before, and I think I saw her in it. Someone that might use her chance to be a Magi because she wanted to heal me."

_Sayaka…? You're the friend that Sayaka used her wish for._

"You know Sayaka?" the Witch shook her head.

_It's best if you stop meeting her. _He wanted to interrupt, but the Witch held up her hand. _You're not supposed to know, no one supposed to know, and no Puella Magi must know that you know about them._

"But I want to!" he couldn't restraint her voice, leaving his shouting echoed in the barrier, "I wronged her so badly because I don't know anything. I want to say thank you! I want to say sorry! I want to say 'Please don't leave me'! I want to know! Please, Elsa Maria…"

_You can be killed…_

"What…?"

_It was the rule; those without potential who gain knowledge of the existence of the Puellae Magi shall be killed, one way or another. It was the rule that we made to preserve our existence, made in wake of great accidents that put us in danger of annihilation. The Salem Witch Hunt, the Holocaust, Tamamo no Mae's exile, all happened because simple knowledge of our existence was leaked into the normals; mundane people without potential, and those normals persecuted us without knowing that we meant no harm to humanity, not knowing our contributions to mankind's history._

_We, the Puellae Magi, are actually live in fear just like how your people fear us, something that unknown and your mind can't comprehend. That fear turned to hatred, and that hatred resulted in oppression, which reached its climax in 1990_. _Thus, the rule was made._

The shadowy figure stopped herself from churning out any more detail. But those details were enough to silence the grey haired boy, who can only stared at the tip of his feet. Ungratefulness and ignorance were actually going back longer than he imagined, and it was actually enforced. If so, then what happened in those who had watched the video, even by accident? In fact, what will happen if all of the humankind knows the existence of the Puellae Magi? They will be killed too?

Seeing how worried the Witch is, that might be the case.

His head whirling so fast from the revelation, he went dizzy. He just wanted to apologize to his precious person and salvaged the small chance of their friendship, not to be dragged to magical world politics and feud.

_This isn't about mere curiosity anymore, boy. It is like how you just discovered the nation's classified information, and now you're being chased by the international police. But either way, you're going to be killed. Unless… the rule no longer active for various reasons._

"Hoooy~ Elsa Maria!"

Sing song tone of a familiar voice cut her monologue short. Several animal headed tendrils bind the boy over his body and mouth, and dragged him to the darkest corner of the barrier. The tendril only let some small space for him to be comfortably breathing, but they mostly wrapped so tightly around his body, he felt like being folded inside a mattress. The owner of the voice was as expected, but the confirmation still made him widened his eyes.

Sayaka run up to the Witch, her pure white cape and blue shine that seemed to outline her being clashed jarringly against the unnatural blackness. Her bandage and brace disappeared, leaving no trace of injuries that he just saw the morning before. Her steps were in springs, she smiled with such familiarity to the creature in front of her

"You won't believe what I'm going to tell you." Sayaka challenged the Witch. Even though she doesn't have a visible mouth, the squinting blank eyes of hers informed him that Elsa smiled down at his childhood friend.

_Really? And what is this thing that makes an old woman such as I am surprised?_

Seeing another self of Sayaka was strange. The Sayaka he knew was shy, reserved even. Always averting eyes when talking to him and closed her arms around herself in his presence. He knew that Sayaka was different when she's with her female friends but this Sayaka, staring up at the eldritch with brave gaze and loud entrance while smiling a mile wide, he was more in doubt about his resolve. Was his existence really needed by her?

"We can turn you back! My friend's wish can turn the Witches back to human again, isn't that great?"

_What…? A-Are you sure?_

"Of course. We turn Walpurgisnacht back, why shouldn't you?"

_Walpurgis…_

"It's true that we can't turn familiar into human, but if it's a pure born Witch like you, then-"

_I'm sorry… I don't think I deserve the courtesy._

"What…?" Sayaka tilted her head to a side, "Why? Are you don't trust her wish magic can really do that?"

_No, it's not that… Well, as you know, I've been a Witch for a long time already. This world no longer have place for me just like how my body does not have a trace anymore. Beside… this barrier is something that I self-imposed on myself. I have sinned, Sayaka. Let me die a monster I am…_

"Elsa…"

_You've been a great company… I am grateful you came to this place… Now, leave this place and never come back. From now on, I will order Sebastian to be hostile. _

"But-"

_Go!_

Her shout echoed against the stained glass realm, silencing the background pipe organ melody. Sayaka wilted at the rejection, before storming out of the barrier with a swish of her cape. But just a moment as she jumped out a glyph she conjured as exit…

"Just you see! I will save you!"

_That little blockhead…_

The Witch then focused her attention to the hiding boy. Kyousuke gulped as the tendrils loosened.

_You too. Go home…_

He nodded, mostly to himself. The animal headed tendrils, the one that she called Sebastian, showed him a path out, opposite away from where Sayaka had exited. He stepped out of the bizarre world, realizing that he now stood in an abandoned floor of the infamous unfinished building where his forgotten aunt had commit suicide on. He stared at the retreating haze of the unnatural blackness in disbelieve.

"Impossible…"


	10. Anne of Green Gables

**Heisei 2, February the 6****th**

The barrier twisted and dissolved into nothing, leaving only the abandoned school ground in its stead. She sighed, slightly ticked at the lack of particular motivation why she should take up the job herself. The Witch wasn't that strong, and she wasn't even spreading her barrier beyond a lonely patch of land that is this middle school. She should be preparing for a more important matter at hand; the impending threat of war between the South East alliance and Northern part, for example.

The school announcement speaker made a small white noise, as it had been scheduled. A small tune, sad and slow echoed in the hallway. She looked far beyond the window, where she could see the orange-tinted sky gradually grew darker by minutes.

"_Soup made by a lady wearing a catskin~"_

A voice, someone was singing along with the tune.

"_I head to a neighborhood where all the old ladies have disappeared. Sponge cakes made by a lady wearing a dogskin, with two shovels being sold in a hardware shop~. A hole as deep as a grown man's height-"_

"Since when Träumerei has lyrics?"

The way she sings the song disturbed her. The owner of the wispy voice smiled at the protest, like she saw nothing wrong with the strange song. A waif of a girl, dressed in a red and yellow striped ringmaster longcoat. A magical girl, might be a local one at that. And the aura she seemed to expel from herself indicated that she was an empath.

"Have a good hunt, Miss Knight?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. Is this place your territory?" she shook her head.

"The last one of the territory had just passed away. I'm visiting a relative right now."

"Ah."

Her fingers playing with the Grief Seed's sharp bottom stand. The girl really made her uneasy, with the way her smile seemed to stop just before her eyes and her overly enthusiastic hops and skips. Something really made every fiber of her being screamed at her to bail out of the place and never look back. The shadowy building suddenly went bright like it was morning when the stranger turned and offered her the might be shiniest example of toothpaste's model smile.

"Do you want some ice cream, Miss Knight?"

The way she asked the question, at how detached and unwarned it was to the rest of the situation, made her pull out the most eloquent respond she had ever made.

"Hah?"

Either way, they sat on a bench outside a convenient store, licking their sea salt ice cream in awkward tension. At least, that was how the sword wielding magical girl thought and felt. Her host didn't seem to be bothered with sitting with a stranger that might kill her anytime in an attempt for a turf war. In fact, she was surprised that her host actually pretty easygoing in face of the war. Entire Japanese Puellae had enlisted in the army, but this girl didn't show any of the sight of being thrusted into an unwanted fight. None of the fear, or the nervousness. Did she just make her contract? Didn't look so if one watching on how she carried herself.

Like she had chosen to ignore the psychological backdraw of it.

"Is it good?"

"It's… good."

"Wah, I'm glad. I and my mother used to buy this every Saturday. When you eat anything cool at night, you can always guarantee that you'll catch a cold the next morning. But that's okay; it's Sunday, after all. And only when you get sick, people get slightly kinder than usual."

"Yes, I can see that. Sometimes I will feign sickness just so I can play." She nodded to herself before frowning, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Don't you want to have nothing to do with the fighting? I thought you do."

Her mind stopped in its track.

"P-Pardon…?"

"You don't want to follow the order, right? You actually plan to stop her from making the alliance with that certain party and leave. It can't be helped, but you want to do something about it."

When her gears finally started moving again, her frown had deepened to the point of angry scowl. This girl had no right to tell her what to do. Whether it's to kill her enemies or to backstab her allies, it wasn't her business to intrude. As much as the options sickened her, she eventually will have to choose which one she has to choose. Avoiding it with sickness as excuse won't actually help her situation, and it will put her in an even worst position.

But before she could run the words through to her host, she realized something. She might exaggerate the effect of her own self-importance. She wasn't alone in this after all. Only after she abandoned such view, she realized that her host actually and absolutely right about her. If one can saw pass the overly sweet, but crude attempt of solution she spouted out, this girl was spot on with her guess on her. She gulped down the angry remark, and suddenly a sheepish embarrassment filled her mind.

"It won't help me much, to be honest…"

"I see. I think it still a good idea."

"I can't escape it simply by running away. I have to face it myself."

"Oh, come on. Why something that can only happen in the TV like 'running away' happen in real life? It's called 'tactical retreat'."

She at first stared at the girl with a raised eyebrow, before she laughed heartily at the small soldier joke. The neighboring old man shouted at her and threw a furo bucket so fast that even with her reflex, the bucket still nailed her right at the forehead. Now seeing the scene, the stranger laughed at her misfortune. Both of them were laughing at her misfortune. Sometimes, it's good to laugh at something that brought bad news to you.

They eventually had to move to dodge the old man's precise aiming skill, but she never felt unlucky for experiencing that. In fact, she felt proud. She actually found a determination to finish this through the end, even though she had to see this side of hers first. She smiled, satisfied and content. Her host giggled at the obvious display of pleasant mood.

"When you stop moping, everything looks so simple, right?"

"Yeah… but it's only matter of time before other problem rears its ugly head. Just let me indulge myself in this moment where I don't have to worry about morality and inner conflict."

The host hummed, short hair swept over her eyes. She then pulled out her pendant, a large white cross, from behind her clothes. She detached the pendant from its chain and clipped it to her hair, changing its function into a hair decoration. Now her bang no unattended, the magical girl saw those eyes of hers and found herself muttered with a real consent.

"They're beautiful..."

"Huh?" she gulped, suddenly felt self-conscious with her slip.

"Your eyes. I never saw eyes with the same shade of blue as yours." The stranger giggled.

"Ah, thanks. I inherited it from my mother, though she's more red and black than anything now."

'Red and black eye color? Must be from lack of sleep, she wanted to think like that. But from what her experience had taught her, every magical girl has issues, and this one must be too. But she knew better than to push the matter.

"I don't think I catch your name."

"Akagi. An Akagi, at your service."

"Mine is Hinata Makoto, pleased to meet your acquaintance. I hope we can meet again, and not in a turf war."

The walk back to Mitakihara was silent and lonely, the foreboding atmosphere of pre-battle spying and planning. Even the Witches were mostly hiding. Like they understood just what that would happen in the nearby battlefield.

The modernization of this town was in a good pace, building made of several centimeters of glasses and electronic facilities that would dominate the entire lifestyle. They might even be able to enjoy the monorail the next April, if the Walpurgisnacht isn't going to grace them with her presence. She wanted to be a little hedonist in just this moment, but she remembered that she had to report her travel.

When she was back to the secret headquarter of the Mitakihara Puellae Magi, she was already waiting. Stood at the second floor's balcony like a lord watching his subject, her superior put a foot on the balcony railing and looked down toward her. Red eyes peeked under those messy bangs, and Hinata sneered at back with a tooth baring grimace.

"So… had you meet that freak?"

The question jabbed her the wrong way.

"I don't think we have right to call her a freak, knowing our circumstance."

If she heard the snide respond, she surely ignored it. The red-clad young woman jumped down the second floor, covering such a great distance with just one leap, and now embracing the black-haired magical girl's shoulder in a semi hug. Hinata involuntarily shivered.

"Do you think she will accept our offer?"

"I don't think so."

Her superior seemed to be perfectly somber and calm, unusual for someone whose temper is infamously quick to flare out. Like she had expected the answer.

"I knew it." She growled from the back of her throat, "Such a waste of talent…"

"You know her."

"Met her once and twice. Trying to convert her to our cause but she's so difficult to predict that I decided she's more trouble and worth. I sent you there just to see if her reaction would be different." So it wasn't the first time. Her curiosity peaked at this. The infamous Blood-splattered Ayano had an interest to this girl? It sounded like there's some story behind this mysterious magical girl.

"Why would you want her in the team, anyway?" hearing that, the red-clad young woman laughed in a slightly mocking arrogance.

"That girl… I heard from Kyubey that she made the most selfish wish ever made. A wish that so self-centered, it broke the system. Made her Soul Gem incorruptible, ever."

"Is that even possible?" she asked in skeptic.

"Not really sure myself, but that's how it is. Some says that she wished to be a God, the other claims that she wanted to be an alien so the rule won't reach her. But what clear is her wish twisted her person into something bizarre, her mind became so incomprehensible. But people listen to her anyway. That combination made those rats uneasy."

"I see… that's why you want her on our side. You want to bring more people to the fight."

"Of course! No bloodshed without the people who killing each other. If only we can do just that, the fight the South East would be the worst war ever in our history! Imagine the thrill! The excitement of slicing our enemies down and watching their life and fear drain from their eyes! Alas, it's nothing but a pipedream now. We have to make what we have now."

The black-haired girl watched her cackled until her form disappeared into the shadow. Only then, the rest of the magical girls came out of their hiding. Faces full of hatred, helplessness and fear; she hated those faces, she hated to see those faces. The faces that reminded her she had not yet fulfill her contract, even after all the sacrifices everyone made.

The youngest of them all, a small forest green-haired seven year old, tugged her cardigan.

"Sempai… are we going to die?"

"We won't. I promise."

"But are we really do the right thing?" a tired voice called out from the top of crates stacked at the left corner, "Are we really do this because it's a right thing to do, or because we just want to save ourselves?"

"There's nothing wrong with trying to save one's skin, especially if it's from a senseless bloodshed." Hinata turned to face them all, every single of those faces she hated, "Listen up and listen well. If we want it to be successful, you will do what you think we need to do. And if we stay in our plan, Ayano Akinari shall be dead by noon at the 'battle' against the South East Alliance…"

**88888**

The last century was the darkest era of the Puellae Magi. War and plague, suffering and death raved madly like a hungry beast; all while the Incubators were made work of their contracts. Left on their own device and finally seeing that their lives were forfeit to the endless fight, the magical girls abused their power as a last ditch attempt of hedonism, to fill the gap inside their heart which was lost when they were surrendered their normalcy.

From there, turf wars started to brew, with many girls made their contracts and their home started to feel smaller. Those who were strong survived, while the weak beaten to pulp. Either dying or serving the strong, the weak's options were not many. The term 'Matriarch' popped out from the domination of the strong to the weak, and those who were weak would seek the Matriarch's protection until they could handle themselves.

Of course, the way domination works doesn't really go with mutual symbiosis. Oppression was a norm at the time, and the Matriarch held their subjects in place with swords and spells, ruling the iron fist. The lesser magical girls will often plan to assassinate their Matriarch, and the result may turn either way. Not to mention, the assassin that murdered her master more often than not turned out the same like their predecessor, fed by their own lust for power and freedom to do anarchy they had been denied since they made the contract.

In the end, Puellae Magi and the 'Normals' were no different.

The event that would be remembered as Great Eurasia Turf War; a group of four Philippines magical girls went to North Korea for studying and vacation. They had need, like any other magical girls, and they hunted on an area already taken by a Matriarchy. The North Korean were, and still are famous for being hostile to those not from their descent, didn't listen to reason and slaughtered all of them for trespassing. That amoral deed sparked the anger of the entire South East Asia, whom famous for having a very large, intricate family tree. One of those murdered girls was a cousin thrice removed of a Malay-descended Vietnam Matriarch, she who was only known as Sekartadji, and she was _furious_.

Sekartadji gathered her kins, and the resultant army was so massive they lived for three weeks in an abandoned town just consisted of the magical girls. The North Korean magical girls were, too, gathering their support. The Chinese refused to take a part, in a stance of neutrality and for their personal disgust of the unnecessary bloodshed. South Koreans were actively hostile with them, quickly joined force with the South East. On the other hand, Japan took their offer like a child given a cookie jar.

The current Matriarch of Japan, Ayano Akinari, known more as Blood-splattered Ayano, was a cruel young woman. She butchered her own students she deemed too weak and tortured her stronger ones just so to see their limits. Coliseum battle between her students, life baited her young subjects to the Witches, and not to mention her love for battle. As long as she got to fight, she would do anything. The reason why she took the alliance against an overwhelming force was because she would have more people to butcher, and she dragged the magical girls under her command with her. They certainly didn't share her enthusiasm.

At January 1990, Sekartadji personally approached the Japanese magical girls to surrender, for they had nothing to do with the war. Ayano scoffed at the peace offer, but the initially frightened and oppressed magical girls of Japan saw an opening to be free from her reign, and made a secret rendezvous with the Matriarch.

'You may kill Ayano-shisou, as long as we leave the battlefield without hindrance.'

Those words were spoken by Ayano's best student, Hinata Makoto, voicing her sisters-in-arms' thought and wish. The mastermind of the entire Japanese formation in the war, thus capable of turning the tide of battle simply by a flick of wrist and marker; it was trusted to her by her master, who actually recognized her talent. Just arranging her master death was a child play for her.

But it was the morality of the action that weighted her heart so badly. She, who sought after justice and righteousness, saw her action as a sin. Her meeting with the strange An Akagi actually quenched her thirst for focus and determination, to see just what was actually right to do.

For her great justice.

**88888**

**Heisei 2, February the 17****th**

Tomorrow is the big day, but she wandered into this city again to seek her. She had to, or she might chicken out. She didn't know why she became dependant to that girl, but she didn't care. She sought every alley, every corner, just to see her again.

Then she saw her in a junction. She wasn't alone. There was a young man talking to her. An acquaintance? The man was tall but looked a little frail, skin as white as jasmine with jet black hair invoking the image of male Snow White. She lurked closer, trying to hear what they were conversing.

"… I mean, look at you! You really have it great, Despair!"

"It's Itoshiki, Akagi-san! And what can I say? The last time we met was when you were in kindergarten. You really made my hands full with that club's heretic stuff…"

"You miss me, then?"

The young man blushed at the cheery-voiced teasing. Suddenly, a strong gust blew the area. Akagi's sundress flew open and her hat blown from her head. The young man gave a chase, which then had him stood on the other side of the road. Akagi waved at him in gratitude, and he smiled back at. The interaction was so sweet; it brought an unconscious smile into the spying party's face.

Akagi crossed the road, and at that moment, Hinata heard a loud roar of engine. A pick-up truck sped toward the crossing girl without anything to slow it down.

"Watch out!"

She jumped out of the hiding place. Her shouting attracted her attention, and her eyes widened when she saw the incoming car ready to flatten her. Hinata never preyed so hard before; preyed that her magical girl reflex would save her, preyed that somehow the vehicle could change its course. But her hope dashed; the car hit the girl so hard, her shoes went flying. But it was the girl's last act that made her more horrified.

Akagi indeed widened her eyes in surprise. Or was it recognition? Either way, she then closed her eyes and gave the happiest smile a hit-and-run victim could give. A smile not unlike the one she gave her the last time they met.

Both she and the young man could only watch her lying in her own pool of blood.

**88888**

**13 May 2011**

Elsa Maria opened her blank white eyes, and her vision immediately focused on the intruder. That aura, that silhouette, she didn't want to believe it. But she was there; An Akagi was there, standing in front of her.

But then she realized something amiss from the supposed dead girl.

For one, it was a proportion of a young male.

The second was the face that his blond hair, instead of dark brown, wasn't really concealed by the blackness that was her barrier. Elsa whispered out.

"Who are you?" the intruder answered with his young, but very male voice in the same sing song tune that she always remembered.

"Oh, come. Do you forget about me already?" his voice then suddenly turned low and sinister, "It's me, An Akagi…"

Now the boy was near enough, the Shadow Witch widened her eyes in surprise, and a little fear. The same face and hairdo. Even though he clearly masculine enough, with the face of this now-dead girl stamped on his head didn't seem to diminish the girlish charm that all magical girls radiate. As the boy answered her, like in a cue, more people stepped in to her barrier.

Two, five, ten, twenty six of them, each wearing a same face even though they didn't share their body shapes or even gender. Twenty six children from teenage years to grade school age wearing An Akagi's face and spewing out her magic signature now had surrounded her in a tight circle.

Her Witch instinct screamed at her to run; twenty six magical girls (and boys) were too much to handle. Their intruding presences made her nauseated.

"What do you want from me?" her voice was steady, but she might not be able to keep it up for any longer.

"Just a visit from an old friend, I hope I didn't intrude."

They all spoke in synch, like they were one person. Then Elsa Maria saw it; they were indeed one. One and only An Akagi.

"I don't think you had answered it, Akagi-san."

"Our last meeting… that would be today."

"Why? You don't need me."

"Yes, but the other Puellae Magi are. You're their guide, after all. The oldest that they could find in this area after your girls abandoned this town, I do know you do know what it means, no?"

"I see… you're the one who spread that video." This wasn't the way she expected her to die, "And your reason? I doubt you did everything just for sake of giggles. Do you not know what will happen if the world know about the magical girls."

"Actually, that's the point. I want to make the world see us."

She had finally gathered enough of her Sebastian, and she launched the animal-headed tendrils toward the blond boy she had assumed as their leader. The blond boy only smirked, watching with his eyes wide from ecstasy as the attack came charging in.

Several of those other children leaped in front of him, pulling bladed weapon of any kind from out of nowhere. Kitchen knife, meat butcher, katana, any sharp thing which name she could pull from her battle-addled mind. They tore pass her familiars like it was hot butter, their weapons clearly imbued by enchantment of a magical girl.

But how…? Unnatural occurrence where magical girls violated the unspoken rule of one soul for one body usually had to be paid with a very high price. Twenty six of them, sharing the same magic signature? That's overkill!

One of the knife wielders charged pass the slithering Sebastians, her spaces between her fingers filled with small daggers. The throw was precise and fast, her dodging barely saved her skin from gotten grazed. She saw drops of red liquid. Her blood? It's been awhile since the last time she saw herself bleeding. Her musing was cut short when one of them snuck up behind her and hit her at her head with a catalogue of some sort. Leather-bound, about five hundred pages in it; unsurprisingly, she went dizzy from the impact.

Elsa Maria felt like she was mauled by a pack of wolves.

Red eyed pack of wolves, baring their teeth.

This might be her end, she laughed humorlessly. What a joke! She couldn't even have the death that she wanted.

Just for a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of pink light. Her mind dismissed the glimpse as a trick of light from a dying woman's eyes. But then she saw the light gotten larger and closer, only before it struck her right on her chest, she realized just what was it.

A magical girl in pink, wielding a bow adorned by blooming rose, shot her with her arrow. She stood on the top of her statue's head, granting her the vantage even when the Witch was surrounded, along with two other silhouettes. A blue one with cape was no stranger, but the yellow magical girl was new in her eyes.

'Stubborn blockhead… what are you doing here…?'

She said she wanted to save her. Was granting her the death that she wanted was her way of 'saving'? Didn't look that way before. She felt a small thump in her chest, just where the arrow had pierced her and swallowed inside. She might be dreaming; she saw her barrier became brighter. She blacked out on the spot.

**88888**

"Those guys… What are they?"

"Don't mind it right now. We have to save her!"

"Don't be rash, Miki-san. We're outnumbered, there's no way we can go down there without jumping in the middle of them."

"But-"

"I'll try to shoot her from here, and let the resultant gust take care the rest."

"Madoka! If it turns out not like the time with Walpurgisnacht, then we might lose her to them."

"Then we'll just try. …Here goes!"

The arrow, her wish magic, flew straight and true, and pierced the Witch on her left chest. The Witch recoiled from the impact, but her footing was otherwise strong. She stood rigid and looked back at them; those blank white eyes spoke a mild annoyance. The arrow of light sunk into her chest, and the Witch fell forward on her face. Elsa Maria's visage seemed to be absorbed into the Grief Seed- turned-Soul Gem, each layer of darkness shredded from the large shadow and swirled like the familiar sight of purification of the corruption.

Wind exploded, sending the strange intruders flying. Madoka pumped her fist and let out a small cheer of victory as Sayaka dashed toward the lonely Soul Gem.

"I knew it… you can turn back without much fuss."

Her instinct screamed of danger approaching. Sayaka arched her neck backward, chin slightly grazing the thrown knife. The blue magical girl snarled at the one who thrown the knife, but her expression quickly turned confused when she realized that every single one of her opponent shared a same face and not all of them were girls.

'Are they siblings or what…?'

Madoka and Mami stepped in, shooting from their vantage to support Sayaka's escape. The blond boy, the seemingly leader, calmly glanced at the magical girls, pulling out a short sword of his own from behind his shirt and deflecting a headshot from Mami.

"They surely powerful…"

"Mami-san, are they…?"

"There's no way it's possible. Every single one of them shared the same magical signature, which means they actually just an extension of a magical girl. Akemi-san's document doesn't seem to detail that magical girls are capable of Witch Kissing before their transformation unless their power made them capable of doing so."

"So they're like Kyubey."

"I doubt they're like the Incubators too." Mami shook her head, "We have to get out of here before the barrier collapse. If we can do so, we can conceal our track with the barrier from them."

Sayaka already dashed pass them. Her jump momentum slowed down and she started falling, but she already conjured her crest as platform.

"What are you waiting for, then?"

The two quickly followed. They leaped higher than they had ever did, almost flying toward the ceiling of the barrier. They slammed against the 'sky', and the stained-glass like barrier shattered like it was a real glass. They didn't waste any time on their falling and immediately dashed off from the building.

"That's seriously freaky! It reminds me of that one episode of Evangelion with all those Rei clones!"

"What…? So they are the same person?"

"They're not that similar if they're really clones. More like siblings of a very large family or something."

"A family full of Puellae Magi…?"

"It doesn't matter right now. What we're gonna do is to reunite the Soul Gem with the body."

"Miki-san, I know I have no place to say this after all the misinformation that I gave to both of you, but you're resorting on a grave robbing for this. Isn't that…?" Sayaka smiled a little at this.

"If you talk with the old me, I might agree all in an instant. But what I learned from all we have been through, I realized that when it comes to save a life, then sometimes you have to make a choice that may be deemed amoral by others." Her face twisted in pain of grief, "Elsa, no, Hinata-san was very tortured for a long time already…"

**88888**

Madoka stared in awe and horror. She knew that every since Sayaka went back from her visit of the Shadow Witch's barrier, she suddenly obsessed with the innate healing power that all Puellae Magi have. Going through the documents and records that Homura had left them, her best friend was skipping in joy when she found out the magical girls were actually capable of regenerating from a single tissue as long as their Soul Gem could hold the strain.

"_If we combine it with my wish magic, then we can resurrect her back as human! I'll make a new body for those Witches who already lost theirs!"_

But never in the million years had she imagined the process was as gruesome as this. From a single bone that missed the cremation fire, became a skeleton structure. And then, the horrifying sight started when they regenerated the organs and muscles. The ex-Witch awoke in the middle of the process, and suddenly she shrieked and flailed around. A mass of red flesh and gore, face twisted with agony, went berserk from the phantom pain that she felt of having no skin.

The three of them was a little nervous since the first muscle tissue was regenerated, but she thought it would be alright, everything's going to be alright.

Then this bizarre abomination of a woman suddenly jerked up and screamed. It reminded her of the horror story about the living human anatomy model that likes walking around the school after the student are going home. She took an arm and her hands slipped on the slickly muscle drenched with blood vessels. Her grip made the vessel burst, and the screaming just went louder.

"Concentrate on healing the skin first, Miki-san! We have to calm her down!"

"How? Can we really skip the process?"

"Just do it!"

Her eyes nailed on the agonized face, couldn't really look away. Whitish bones of her cheeks and nose peeked out from under the tissues, and those brownish red eyes widened and mad. Madoka couldn't help it, her tears dripped down her face as she felt the fear and pain this old magical girl was feeling.

The ex-Witch suddenly went calmer.

"You… really are doing this till the end, huh?"

"That right… We can't see it any other way anymore." Madoka whispered, mostly to herself, "Homura-chan had done so much just to see us survive through, we will do just like what she had done. We will save the other magical girls, no matter how hard it is."

"…Heh… such a brave dream. And a bit foolish, too." The skin on her face has finished its healing, Madoka could only gape at the silent beauty aura that the face seemed to radiate, "That's why I always admire the empaths; you guys never knew when to give up hope."

Four hours passed since they brought the Soul Gem back. In Mami's apartment, where she had erected a barrier where no sound could get through, they begun their experiment. Sayaka couldn't help but to think that maybe Homura would be proud of them.

The ex-Witch came out of the shower, dressed in one of Mami's clothes and irritably pulled on her shirt as its collar always slipped off of her shoulder. One delicate eyebrow rose, seeing that the low triangle table had filled with many kinds of desserts and cakes, and she sighed before settling down.

"Now, you had saved me. What will you do next?"

"We heard about the leakage of the Walpurgisnacht battle in the internet from Kyubey."

"Ah… that one. Seeing the relative peace of the situation, I though those guys no longer had anything against the thing anymore."

"We heard something about… the genocidal plan of the magical girls if something like this happening. We need details about that, and we need help the outmost." The usually sweet and soft Mami's sponge cake felt tasteless on Madoka's tongue. She had been that way since she heard the news, and she was numb inside at the musing of the fact that magical girls could do something like that.

"…Which one of you has the most authority in this city?"

"…She's out of the town right now." Mami hesitantly answered, "Might be come back the next year or two."

"We have no time to way for her. Which one of you has most experience?"

"It's… ah, I am. But-"

"Then you're in charge."

"If you're looking for the most experienced magical girl, then why don't you elect yourself as leader?" Sayaka raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. The black-haired woman then looked at her like she had grown another head.

"It's been 20 years since I turned into Witch. I don't even know anything about this city anymore." She shook her head, "A leader should know everything about what and who she led, and I can't do that. I had said that I no longer have place in this world, even more so if I take the point."

"Oh… I see."

"W-Why would we need leader over something like discussing the spreading rumor?" Mami stammered slightly, "Can't we just-"

"What I'm going to tell you might not be something that is the most pleasant news that you had ever heard, and I'm sure you have your share of bad news. But let's start over from the introduction. My name is Hinata Makoto, the Matriarch of Mitakihara in 1990 after arranging the death of my predecessor. Your turn."

"Ah! Oh, well… my name is Madoka Kaname. I just made my contract in the Walpurgisnacht, and as you saw, I was the one who turned her back to human." Madoka stuttered slightly when she heard her 'ancestor' killed her predecessor part.

"You already know my name, and you already know when and why I made my contract. I don't think there's something that you don't know about me." Sayaka shrugged.

"My name is Mami Tomoe… and I don't think I'm capable of taking the responsibility."

"We'll see later. Now from the beginning, where I should I start…?"

**88888**

The horrible battle that is the Great War was ended, just like how she had predicted, not even pass the noon. With defection of the entire Japanese magical girls, knowing that the Puellae of the country was the biggest population in the world, the alliance between North Korea and Japan was destroyed. No surprise, really.

The Japanese magical girls then decided change the unspoken rules of the Matriarchy, as their attempt to leave their bloody past behind, by choosing their Matriarch through voting. As the hero who masterminded the fall of their tyrant, Hinata Makoto was chosen as the Matriarch, who then decided to divide the territory of Japan into independent cities controlled by a single group of at least three magical girls. She, from then on, better known as _Mitakihara_ Matriarch, not the entire Japan.

Life was good and relatively peaceful. Until the shadow of danger lurked from the unexpected side. The battles between magical girls were never produced a good outcome, and this one wasn't different. Collateral damage of spells being slung and blades being swung always left large scars on Mother Earth; and unlike what public had always assumed, the government was far from ignorant. So when these men in black suddenly started to stalk girls walking back home from their school, the magical girls grew suspicious.

But not until people started disappearing, their fury took shape.

Family members and friends of those who had made contract to the creature named Incubators from all over the world were kidnapped and being interrogated, Jack Bauer-style. Their names and records vanished from the face of the Earth, and the magical girls of said families lost their home after their heritages were denied. Those who found out about their secret shunned them and called them names, before swiftly cut down by the angered girls. Again, the period of anarchy and despair in and out of the Puellae world resurfaced, before Sekartadji shouted just what she had been thinking and pointed her finger at the one who actually responsible; the government.

Silent war that the mundane were ignorant of had begun. The Puellae Magi had their advantage, and boy, how they abused it. Every single magical girl in every country did what they do best in making the higher up's life hell. Privacy intruding, spreading rumors and every dirty secret they might have to the public, destroying their wealth and freedom, even blowing body-rending diseases that could not be cured by those days standard.

The climax of the passive-aggressive war was at 8 June 1990, where every single magical girl in the world dropped down in the middle of their respective countries' executive meeting and exclaimed just what they wanted. Both side argued for hours, with varied outcomes. The more stubborn ones, like the White House, British's House of Lords, and MPR/DPR, shrugged off their pressure. But the Kokkai, Japanese Diet, and Hong King LegCo seemed to visibly hesitate after the first attack of the magical girls had been launched. Unsatisfied with the result, the magical girls launched their protest to the United Nation.

The debate became even more heated, with several Puellae already hot-headed enough to finally resort violence right there and the guarding security officers prepared to open fire at the teenage girls. Until one girl stepped forward and spoke out her terms, the one that made the United Nation went white in horror.

'If you won't let us go in peace, then no one can.'

The enigma, the hermit, the doll maker, Ada binti Yahya ibn Hassan. No one knew who she was, no one even sure that name was hers. But one thing that was clear; that girl's threat was never a lie. She showed a footage; a footage of her personal army. Thousands or even millions of them, an undying army of soldiers made of clay, stones, and ores, descending mountain ranges and forest toward human settlements. Her intent was clear.

'Leave us in peace, or else.'

A pact was signed, and in case of the magical girls, a rule was made. If anyone exposed the existence of Puellae Magi world and the fate of their 'ancestors' was repeated, then the army of golems would automatically attack the mundane, any mundane, without reservation. The magical girls agreed to help lightened their burden by stopped becoming as active as they were before. The turf war only fought by less than six girls, the already established territories only stretched to their next door neighboring city. Everything else was a fair game, though.

**88888**

"Though, it's been awhile since the rumor came out, and still no attack reports from living mountains. Either Ada kicked the bucket already, or she no longer as strict. It's bad news, though. If those guys in the parliament find out the thread that keep them out of our business is gone, they might be the one who will launch the attack first."

"This generation of magical girls is mostly ignorant of the pact, and only followed their seniors' instructions without much protest with justification of their survival. It's very possible that the United Nation might assassinate the magical girls without them knowing."

"Kyubey…!"

Madoka snapped her head to her left, where the white alien had exposed himself. His tail waved slow and rhythmically, like he had no care for their plight. She wanted to shout at him that he was terrible for thinking like that, before remembering that his calculation of life's worth wasn't the same as theirs. But Kyubey then continued.

"As much as we want to observe the process, losing our assets through unnecessary death is not something that we want to come in fruition. If both sides clash in a gigantic war, not only the magical girls' existence is exposed, but the entirety of the system might also. The chance of us making any more contracts will slim down to only 12%."

"You jerk! All you can think is making your 'contract'!"

"This is where the role of leader, or as we old ladies called, Matriarch, comes. If anything world-wide happen to us, the leaders will meet to discuss our next move. I don't know if it still applied to you guys, but we better prepare."

The Mitakihara girls could only gulped down their saliva.


	11. The Watchers

She then realized that she knew almost nothing of the magical girls of old times, and now she sorely regrets it. After all, it was her purpose to make sure Madoka was saved from her fate and not made peace with the other girl; and even that, she failed.

Since the beginning, her social skill and diplomatic eloquence were abysmal, and it might be her downfall if she couldn't explain herself to this girl, no, woman that she didn't know about the importance of keeping their identity and power a secret, and surely will face the consequences of not doing so.

It was started innocent enough; she was running out of clue.

A small bit of her really wanted to be honest to herself; but in the end she gave up denying it. She was lost of what to do next. No longer had anything to follow, she now has no clue where she should search next.

Finding some people was harder then she thought.

She was walking in a shopping district in Nara. This province was famous for its deer population, walking around the city along the park and tourism hotspot. They could also give the deer some food without heavy watch of the authority. Didn't really sure why it was the case. After all, those people can feed the deer anything that might be dangerous. When people get too much freedom without anything to keep them in line, they surely will do some anarchism.

An all of those came from their perception that they had nothing to do. So just like her. No purpose, no clear aim, that she was confused. Empty.

She could feel her muscle atrophied from disuse; after all those alliteration, everyday was battlefield, and she had no time to rest. A small moment of peace suddenly became unwelcome.

Then she heard the familiar sound. A sound of fighting. Fist meet skin and bone, hearing those skeletal structures creaked in protest because of the abuse. The sound of air is being knocked out of people's lungs, as a foot slammed painfully into one's ribs. Several people were fighting in an alley between a bookstore and convenient store, hidden by the looming shadow of this cloudy day. Against all of her better judgment, she crept into the alleyway.

Her eyes widened in horror. A small boy, no older than Yuma, was surrounded by unconscious bodies of high school delinquents. The boy wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his lips, before taking off a small bag of grocery of the ground. His head snapped up, eyes glaring toward her direction. Their eyes met, and there was recognition in the boy's eyes as his forest green hair swiped away from his face.

"Are you… a magical girl?"

Homura wasn't sure what to answer, but when the boy seemed to expect some kind of reaction, she finally said, "You can tell…?"

"My mother is a magical girl."

She raised an eyebrow. Is? A surviving magical girl old enough to be a mother? She had heard stories about girls who lived through their adulthood, but they always so isolated she wasn't even sure if they lived among the normals, much less building a family.

But the boy seemed so sincere; she took the claim in face value.

"Do you want to meet her?" the boy said. Homura was too quickly shaking her head.

"No, thanks. I don't want to intrude."

"It's fine. Mother always gives some lodging for the wandering girls. I'm sure you don't intrude. Beside, you're not just looking out of some alley just for sake of curiosity, right?"

More like that she didn't have anything to do. She finally relented, and followed the boy to his home. It was modest, two stories building with a small garden. She never go to the rural towns before, and seeing these house were so small compared with those in Tokyo and Mitakihara made her somewhat grateful. The boy loudly exclaimed her presence and running inside, while from behind a door that she identified as kitchen, a young woman who looked like she was in her late teen walked out.

"Shouichiro! How many times I have to tell you to stack the shoes?"

"Sorry…"

The boy then went back to neat up his footwear. At the moment, Homura stared up toward the young woman. Her hair and eyes were forest green, just like the boy. She stood tall and graceful, reminded her of Mami Tomoe in her higher times, and her stance was slightly guarded.

"Do I know you…?"

The woman asked. Before she could answer, the woman suddenly closed the gap between them with a leap and shot out a fist toward her face. It was unexpected, and the punch knocked her unconscious.

By the time she woke up, she was tied to a chair with a magical bind around her arms and ankles. The bind was strong, she couldn't dispel it. The black-haired magical girl jolted her head up, and saw that the stranger's face was not many inches from her.

"What's the meaning of this?" she was surprised that her voice didn't waver. The woman just observed her carefully before stating something that made her even more alert.

"You are one of the girls of Mitakihara…"

"If so?"

"Do you know exactly what you had done?"

"If what you meant is defeating Walpurgisnacht, then yes, I do."

"It wasn't about the Walpurgisnacht. It was about the commotion you created when you fought the Queen of Witches that I'm talking about." The woman sighed in exasperation, "Now, everyone who bothers with the internet had know about our existence."

"What are you… talking about?"

"Someone had recorded your fight with the Walpurgisnacht and spread it in the internet," the stranger raised a hand to silent her before continuing, "The girls from Jenewa had confirmed that United Nation's people had started their preparations to demand their part of the bargain."

"… Could you please explain it from the start? Just what bargain did the United Nation made with the magical girls?"

The story wasn't pleasant to hear. Now knowing that an army of murderous golem will start genociding humankind, she felt her stomach suddenly went heavy. The stranger, now dubbed Emma Nejibana, sat down on a chair opposite hers.

"Everyone went panic after they found out from the Incubator that-"

"Emma!"

The familiar voice, Homura snapped her head to her left where a small rabbit-like creature perched on the counter. Her head tilted, this Kyubey was slightly different physically from the Kyubey she knew and grew to hate. The same rabbit like appendages came out of its ears, but its build was slightly more slender, like an Egyptian cat. A different individual from their species? But it spoke with a same voice…

"Kyubey…" Emma spoke in a leveled tone that hiding the previous urgent note she used, Homura looked up in confusion at the name she spoke out, "Any other news?"

"Yes, it was said that Mitakihara's magical girls had confirmed that An Akagi was the one who spread the recording."

"That's impossible. She's dead; you're the one who made sure of it."

"I'm not really sure about how she was resurrected, but according to the report, she was possessing about two dozen different individuals at once."

"That many? And she was stable?" the young woman scoffed, "You know what happen to magical girls who trying to manipulate the Soul Gem's rule of one gem possessing one body? The Souju sisters quickly went insane and was killed by Asunaro's Saints when they attacked the territory. How long can she survive the strain of maintaining two dozen bodies?"

"Long enough to make us running around like chicken with its head cut off… That was how the proverb goes, right?" the Incubator shook its head, "It doesn't matter now. With the newer generation of Puellae Magi ignorant of the pact, we can't really mobilize a counterattack quickly if, and I say if, the government and the upset publics decide to annihilate you."

"It's not about how to killing those people!" The young woman slammed the counter near where the Incubator sat, "As long as people keep skeptical with the truth, then we can still salvage some time to spread the counter rumor and look out for Akagi-san or whoever that claims as her. We still can keep up this masquerade without resort on another war."

The old magical girl and the Incubator then had a staring contest, trying to weaken each other's resolve. Surprisingly, it was the Incubator who relented.

"Fine. I will send the news that you won't back out yet." The pair of red eyes opened once again to stare unblinking at the old magical girl, "But I have no authority to stop the other from acting, so you better watch out."

"Yes, thank you."

The Incubator turned away to make its exit, but not before sharing a stare with the captive Puella Magi.

"Why Mitakihara…?"

"Because you fought the Walpurgisnacht." Emma slumped into her seat and waved her hand. The magical bind dissipated, and instinctively Homura rubbed her wrist, "When Walpurgisnacht attacked, the devastation was unavoidable. That was why no record of magical girl fighting her, because there was no magical girl had ever fought her. Death was a sure guarantee, and even though we could join force to defeat her, the one who struck the last blow will become Walpurgisnacht herself, stronger than ever."

"So every time the Walpurgisnacht appeared in one place, the magical girls in the area bailed out?"

"Yes. When the place was attacked, the destruction of the area will kill off the entire population; thus the witnesses. No witness, no publication. Our masquerade preserved, and everyone kept ignorant with the existence of Witches and Puellae Magi."

"You… sacrificed how many just to keep up the secret?" she suddenly felt an extreme disgust pooled in her stomach, "How could you?!"

"We tried our best to minimize the collateral damage by distracting her from big cities, but in the end we had to let her to destroy something until the Walpurgisnacht ends or the duration of the Gathering of the Witches will extend to the Hollow's Eve. We can't have a gigantic Witch attacking people from April until October, so it was a better alternative."

"Why… it has to go that way?".

"Because it was a system made by the Incubator."

The answer was short, but she understood why her host chose that answer. There are things that they still not yet knew from those creatures, and they might never know it. It was cowardly and selfish to blame anyone on anything at a small sight of trouble, but when everything bad happened was clearly their fault, then it was difficult to not think the otherwise.

At the silent moment, she remembered something from her host's exposition and went white out of horror. Homura looked down to her hands, rested limply on her lap. Her throat was dry at the possibility of having the entire population of magical girls suddenly hunting down on them

"What will you do… to us?"

"What happened, happens. It can't be helped. But I have to recruit the Mitakihara girls to help tracking down Akagi-san. They were the one who had faced her, after all. And knowing the legbreakers, they're even more untrustworthy than the Pleiades Saints, and surely will some rash actions without anyone's consent. " Emma leaned from behind the counter, "What about you? You want to join us, or continue doing whatever you're doing?" she said such an expectant tone.

Her mission was in a dead end at the moment anyway.

"I'll help."

"Great." The young woman smiled and walked toward the cabinet. Homura was watching her busied herself with making two cups of hot cocoa, a little disbelieve still lingered at how domesticated this woman who had just interrogate her. Her host then slid a cup toward her, which she then intercepted with her hand. It was scalding hot, her hardened hand could even feel it.

"Tell me about your story." Emma said as she sat down in front of her, "I heard you made quite a chaos among the Incubators."

**88888**

**Puella Magi Madoka Magica fanfiction**

**Observation**

**88888**

"…_What are you aiming?" she blurted out without thinking. An Akagi smiled a nostalgic sentiment._

"_A heaven. Or should I say Shangri-La, a place where its inhabitants are enlightened."_

**88888**

"I just got a report from Kyoto. One of my others said that they found Homura Akemi in Nara province."

"Nara? Why Nara?" Sayaka slurped down her share of cup noodle, before asking, "I thought she went to Tokyo for her search."

"No, she immediately went to Kyoto before its Matriarch… 'captured' her for not very careful that the entire Walpurgisnacht could be recorded."

"Is she in danger?"

Hinata plopped down on Mami's white sofa, absentmindedly playing with the TV remote. Her hand was clumsy and she was pushing the buttons with some hesitation in each press. Kyubey scratched the back of his ear and shook his head.

"No, she's safe. After all, this familiar name could never be too cruel on her hostage."

"Familiar?"

"Emma Nejibana. She was made Kyoto's Matriarch in 1997 after leaving Mitakihara two years since your 'death', and holds the title ever since. She was de facto Matriarch of Japan after you, in a way."

"Neji? She's alive?" the black-haired magical girl stopped for a moment, "…A Matriarch? Seriously…? The same small and shy Neji?"

"Yes."

"That's… unexpected. What did she say about this mess?"

"She said she will hold the other ancients from doing a more radical action, at least for now."

"Good to hear… By the way, how many old faces that I might recognize are still alive?"

"About three dozen; the rest had passed away in battle or turning into Witches, but there are those from generations after you that can be categorized as 'ancients', though they also as ignorant as you are in many things."

"That many magical girls… and where are they all this time?" Madoka glanced at the kitchen's door, making sure that Mami had not come back yet from preparing her dessert, "Mami-san is-"

"They usually don't really care about single magical girl, especially if she's pretty tame. The older magical girls usually just go to a center of anarchy and quenched the fire before the other younger magical girls even know about their existence. Take it as an analogue of the Man in Black."

"They also exist?"

"No. The organization that is known as the 'Man in Black' is purely fictional."

"But still…" Sayaka wondered out loud, "Their 'someone else' problem' attitude really rubs me the wrong way. They will literally leave a city to die just so no one can find out about the magical girls' society, and neglect to say anything to the already contracted girls… Are they that afraid to be exposed?"

She then downed her tea in one inelegant gulp. Hinata said nothing, eyes plastered into the TV screen which was broadcasting a help wanted ad of a chain of a convenient store. She then took the phone and called the number in the ad.

"I asked Kyubey to tell me some story about magical girls in the past. I mean, the past like those in ancient Greek and things like that." Madoka gulped her saliva to stave off a slight anger bubbling inside her, "People don't take kindly of our power, usually calling us demon worshippers, or witches, or anything evil in general. When religions become involved, you can pretty much guarantee the persecution, that the magical girls would be shunned or even murdered, without even trying to understand our reason."

"So even not counting the possibility of despairing and turning into Witches for real, the society will surely make our life a living hell…" Sayaka spat out, "But keeping people ignorant… When I see it that way, maybe magical girls are not that different from you, Kyubey."

Hinata spoke in the phone, arguing about something concerning wage.

"Only when we have a same vision, we can work together well. That's why the Incubator and the ancients are living in, mostly, harmony; we can benefit each other as we can understand each other intentions."

"They pretty much can guess that you guys are lying bastards, so it won't come out as a surprise anymore when they find out you're hiding something again. They just no longer bother to be angry at you."

"How cruel."

"What we're going to do…? If we can't stop An Akagi, then we might have to face a world-scale exile, or worse. After all, we don't know what she, uh… they will do next."

"What's worse than exposing the biggest battle of magical girls against the Queen of Witches?"

**88888**

"Several new footages are surfacing in the imageboards… All of them are about the magical girls fighting the Witches."

"So… she's really trying to fan an old flame back to life."

"But there's something strange about it."

"…Do tell."

"Indeed the footages are about the magical girls, but they seem to avoid the more dubious of our activities. Familiar farming, turf war, the cases of berserk magical girls, there are none of them. Instead, they are all about magical girls saving lives from Witch Kisses. It's like Akagi is trying to whitewash our image in the public's eyes."

"So, you think she's trying to change the outcome of our history."

"I'm only stating what I see, cousin."

"Trying to make the normals get used with our presence, and what she will do next? Making us expose ourself to show that yes, magical girls are exist? How foolish! People won't change that easily!"

"People are starting to accept that zombie infestation will one day come true, even though it is impossible through scientific means."

"… Did you just compare us to zombie? That's the lamest analogy that I've ever heard."

"It was an example!" a fake cough, "The point is, when a pop culture starts to integrate in our everyday life, the hyperrealism of said pop culture will blur the line between reality and fiction to the point of people accepting the impossible with enough suggestion. It was just like Akagi's favored method of brainwashing, don't you see?"

"And it will take a quite some times before that point is reached, right?"

"What will you do? Try and stop her? Or supporting her manipulates the public's mind into accepting us? Sekartadji, that girl is insane! It might be crazy enough to work, but what if it fails? We'll lose everything!"

"You know, cousin… I'm tired of running."

"Don't tell me you…"

"When I signed my name on that paper, I thought I can handle it. The nagging mother, the nosy sister, the annoying brothers… they all gone when the bastards attacked my home. And yet, on one hand I'm grateful of them for it. If no one can hold me back anymore, then the ensuing loneliness will not matter anymore; I thought that way at the time. I thought that way…"

"Sekartadji…"

"I'm grateful that you're still with me, after all these years… I truly am…"

"Then, your decision would be...?"

"We still don't know what will happen; blatant support is a no. But, if we can compromise with Akagi, then we might be able to. If she's really An Akagi, then let her talk with some of our girls and see if she can play with their mind as well as she did with us years ago."

A young woman in white shirt stood from her chair, leaning down toward the computer monitor. The bluish light from glass monitor made her naturally tanned face looked sickly pale.

"I want to see those footages, please…"

**88888**

Madoka sighed as she walked back home. Sayaka had offered to accompany her, but she refused. Sayaka's mother came back from her social gathering today, it was better if Sayaka was in home before she arrives.

All this mess didn't really fit into her mind. Then again, she wasn't that smart to begin with. Of course she would have difficulty to comprehend it.

The sun was already set, and the city bustled with the noises of people want back to their home, imagining their warm bath water, delicious dinners, and soft beds. She walked against the ocean of people, feeling that she wasn't a part of it with her mind weighted down by information she had just got.

Then, there was it. The hunch that said she had been watched.

She turned her head toward the bus stop across the street. A familiar face was watching her with those unblinking red eyes. The stranger beckoned her to the across the street. The combination of temptation, unanswered questions, and her own curiosity was unbearable. She followed the beckon like a moth to flame.

They sat together in the glass paned bus stop, now watching the people come and go with their vehicles. The person who can answer all of her questions was sitting beside her, and she was muted by sheer awkwardness; so she satisfied herself by observing her companion's face.

The same waif stature and cropped short hair except for a thin ponytail, she was almost the mirror image with the blond boy she had witnessed leading the attack of Elsa Maria. In the darkness of the Shadow Witch's barrier, the only thing visible was the shine of that yellow mane, as she tried hard to aim at the other children hiding and moving between the shadows. The only real thing that stood out from the disturbingly similar faces was the small beauty mark under her left eye.

They were watching people came and go. A salaryman talking heatedly on the phone, throwing insult left and right at people who accidentally bumped his shoulders. An untidy looking student timidly glanced around, before sticking his hand inside a woman's purse and fishing out a light blue wallet from it. His action was caught, and the woman threw her whole weight to knock him down. All while a bunch of delinquents drunk themselves silly in an alley way on their left, laughing their asses off at the unfortunate fool.

"This world is so sad, isn't it?" The stranger said without looking at her. Madoka could only raise an eyebrow. "People are so ignorant of many things; their destiny, the solution for their problem, their love life… And yet, they think that they know everything."

"…What are you aiming?" she blurted out without thinking. An Akagi smiled a nostalgic sentiment.

"A heaven. Or should I say Shangri-La, a place where its inhabitants are enlightened."

"Wouldn't it be a problem, though? I heard what happened to the magical girls when their identity was revealed."

"Then we'll make them accept us."

She didn't know how to retort back so she kept silent. But then, a small voice nagged her to say out loud the question she had been wanting to be answered since she found out about the identity of her host.

"Are you really An Akagi?" the stranger stared at her like she had just grew another head.

"Of course I am. I'm An Akagi."

"But when I met you in the Shadow Witch's barrier, you are a boy, with blond hair and taller than the you now."

"What are you talking about? There's only one An Akagi, and that's me."

"But they said you're dead."

"Dead?" the face was genuinely surprised, "I can never die; I'm a magical girl."

"You don't remember? Hinata-san said that your father run you over with a car and you fell down bleeding on the street and there were witnesses that-"

"Woah… calm down, girl. Maybe you should take a deep breath."

Madoka did so, inhaled from her nose and exhaled from her mouth. Her adrenaline and frustration died out slowly but surely, and now she looked at the dark-haired girl in front of her with a slightly clearer point of view.

"I… remember my father." The stranger said as she fiddling with her skirt, "That one time, I met him again; a good young man who helped me when I was lost in a school trip. We met when I was in kindergarten and he was in junior high school, and he tried his best to help me find my crowd. It was just a random meeting, but I had a good time with him. He was kind and gentle, a rare breed these days."

"We met again in that intersection, years later. I remembered, and so did he. We talked about many nothing in particular in a nearby park. My hat was blown by the wind and I crossed the street as she caught the hat. Then my father came, riding a small pick-up truck he rented not long ago. I didn't remember he said anything about picking me up," she giggled a little at her own joke, "Either way, I greeted him up. Then I passed out."

"You… passed out?"

"I woke up several days later, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Turned out, I was in a hospital room, in a treatment for an overdose. Then I realized something when I looked at myself on a mirror. My hair grew out so much just by passing out for several days and skin became paler, so much paler. I thought I was tired, so I slept off the rest of the day. The next day I woke up, it seemed that nurses had cut my hair off without me noticing, and I ended up having to wear glasses."

"In one morning, I woke up as a shut-in. In one morning, I woke up as a doujin artist. In one morning, I woke up as a lonely rich girl. In one morning, I woke up as… In one morning, I woke up as… Everyday… until this day."

Mami walked out of her kitchen, a tray full of tea and cups in her hands. She put the tray down in front of her now roommate and smiled pleasantly even though her mind was uneasy.

"What do you read, Makoto-san?"

The older girl looked up from her book, then lifted her book cover so Mami could read the title.

"The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka."

"Is it interesting?"

"It's a very sad book, telling a story about a man who one morning wakes up as a cockroach and witnesses that his life is dispensable and wasted on people who don't deserve it." She said.

"Oh…"

"… Franz Kafka is a very cynical author, Tomoe. You will never find sunshine and rainbow in his stories, much like how our lives turn out. He was an author that might share our view the most with us."

"No… way…"

"Every day, I wake up as a different person, boys and girls who shared my flesh and blood that I had donated before my father killed me in his attempt to gain the insurance. He couldn't kill me, because I can't die, but it was enough to fool the insurance company. My father had his money, those boys and girls were saved, and I finally saw people regained their lives, everyone was happy. I just want to share it with everyone else."

"You possessed those people who had your donated organs into doing your deeds…" Madoka eyed her entire body from head to toes, still in disbelieve.

"It was a little more complicated than that. I didn't expect it to be that way either. I thought I would die and it would be the end of story, but I didn't. I lived inside those boys and girls, watching them giving up on their lives and trying to stop them from themselves. How could they threw away something as precious as life itself? Then they met each other. I could speak through their mouth to them, one at the time. Along the years, we became friends"

"They only knew my identity, their donor, as a girl from Tokyo. Only after persistent pestering they found out about something about me; that my favorite book is Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. From then, because unsatisfied on the anonymous me, they called with the name Kafuka Fuura. It's Franz Kafka pronounced with our dialect, you see. And from then, those who shared my blood and those who shared my blood through those who shared my blood will inherit me. All of them. Every single one of them."

She then raised her right hand to the between of their faces. A small, callused hand with several faint scars, the same one that she often saw on Kyousuke's hand.

"This body belongs to Ai Kaga-chan's daughter, the third born child of the family. She's a very talented playing the violin, just like her mother. Fortunately, she's not as shy and says sorry for every sentence." The older girl smiled at Madoka, a motherly smile that she often saw on her own mother's beautiful face, "I think that's enough about me. What about your family, Kaname-chan? How many siblings that you have?"

**88888**

They sat on the usual place on the lunch time, the roof top where they could see the entire Mitakihara from it. Sayaka bit on her octopus-shaped sausage with an unnecessary strength, breaking her chopstick in process.

"Seriously… that good for nothing woman… Dare to lecturing me on locking up the door when she never in home? I'll let that house burn, and then we'll what she says!"

"Miki-san…"

"That matter aside, did you get Madoka's message, Mami-san? For some reason, I think she's hiding something by not coming to the class today."

"I don't know. Maybe it's just an ordinary cold."

"… Can magical girls catch cold?"

Mami shrugged, absent-mindedly eating her lunch. Some rice and pickled vegetables, the only things that she could effort right now after treating her guests too many times. She still remembered Hinata scolding her for squandering her fund.

"_You're still in junior high, Tomoe. Even though the Puellae Magi might not survive into collage, at least stop wasting your money on unneeded stuff. I've got a call from the manager and she said that I have the job. Don't waste it on your cakes, or else."_

'I really unused being scolded since forever…' Mami smiled, 'Maybe I'm no longer cut out as the big sister of the group anymore.'

Then she remembered what that older magical girl said to her, and her musing became darker in tone. Everyone will suddenly depending on her, while she was actually conscious that she did all those bravado just to fill her emptiness and lonely heart. Responsibility is different from attention after all, and it was the kind of things that she rather avoided. Deep down, the highschooler in her screaming for her suddenly intruded freedom.

"This town suddenly becomes a little silent for my liking. After the Walpurgisnacht, of course everyday will feel boring, though there's this magical politic things going on. I really think that I'm even smaller now, if that's even possible…"

"Miki-san, we can go through this."

Sayaka stared at her after the determined statement, before smiling brightly.

"Yeah!"

A loud bang can be heard at their right, came from the fences. Yuma crouched on the top of the white fences surrounding the rooftop, seemingly after she leaped from the observatory tower where Mami had spied on Madoka and Sayaka's confrontation with Homura. The fence was slightly bend at where she landed, marking the extreme force of the drop.

"Yuma-chan?" The young girl jumped down the fence, only then Sayaka could see the bloodshot and red eyes of her. "What happened? Where's Kyouko?"

"Yuma… had a fight with Onee-chan, and Yuma… left her when we were in Inaba."

"…What?" something didn't compute in Sayaka's mind, "…You, the same Yuma who looks up on Kyouko so much, had a fight with her? Isn't that… kinda impossible?"

"The other day, we were just walking around the town, looking for some Witches. The town doesn't seem to have any magical girl, but there's a heavy pressure like the Witches have, so we decided to help ourselves. Then… there was this magical girl, with white hair and wielding this spiky ball and chain. She talked about things that Yuma doesn't understand. Onee-chan grew upset and they started fighting…"

"Don't tell me…"

"They ended up destroying a house, with a family inside. Mother, father, brother and sister. The sister was bleeding so badly, so Yuma tried to help. But the neighbor called police and Onee-chan said we should leave. Yuma didn't want to and stayed to heal the sister. But… Yuma's power didn't work." Mami's eyebrows were crunched in thought.

"Why it- Oh… the wording of the wish…" the revelation made her wince slightly at the incoming conflict.

"Kyubey then came and said that Yuma's power doesn't work if Onee-chan doesn't approve it. Yuma was angry at Onee-chan, because the sister died right there when Yuma couldn't help, and we were fighting. Yuma then said that Yuma hates Onee-chan and left her in Inaba."

"Wait… what about the magical girl Kyouko fought? Did she run away or something?"

"Yuma don't know, but Yuma didn't see her before Yuma left."

"She might still in the vicinity after Chitose-san left."

"Kyouko can handle herself."

"In this kind of situation, it's better if we stick together. Maybe that girl was one of the legbreakers sent to kill us for our mishaps in the Walpurgisnacht."

"Easier say than done; we still don't know what happen to Madoka for sending the message, and still no word from Homura regarding the alliance. It's just us three now… plus Kyubey."

**88888**

Keeping in contact with the other in Mitakihara didn't mean we came back to the city just like that. Still in a situation some of the more radical factions might do unwanted… things, she had to be in the Nara's magical girls' watch. Not that many of them knew about the exact nature of their posts; one thing that Homura learned from living in a close approximate with an old magical girl is that those new in the business are extremely ignorant, whether it's about important details like the specific of their contract or even the very existence of those magical girls old enough to be their mother.

The hierarchy of the magical girl was simple enough; older ones lead the younger ones. An ancient made some kind order consisted of experienced magical girls, and those girls were the one who taught the newer generations the art of magical warfare, like Mami had been the Mitakihara's Puellae Magi. The chain of command really made the younger generations with barest information of from where those orders came from, with most of them assumed that Kyubey was responsible.

A quite devious design, she had thought, as it made the young magical girls' potential hatred toward their contractor burning like thousand suns and left the older generation relatively scot free of blame. Maybe it was their way venting their frustration toward those aliens.

From afar she watched Emma ensemble her army, and she was impressed by the sight. It was obvious that the order of magical girls was a quite old tradition but seeing the organization in action directly was a very humbling experience. The unity through their common goal, the trust they put to their leader, the one that she was sure came from numerous disappointment and rebellion toward the Incubators. It made her effort seemed insignificant; after all, she couldn't deny that these ladies went through things longer, or might be worse, than even her.

One of the ancient's lieutenants was guarding her, but she wouldn't call it 'guarding'. Said magical girl lazed around the living room, stuffing her face with junk foods in the quantity that makes Kyouko green with envy. The way she held herself made you think you that she was the patron saint of the slackers, not a strong magical girl that deserved the position as a right hand woman of a Matriarch.

"Careful with your musing, Akemi. I can hear you from here."

Homura instantly silenced her mind. A mind reader? Homura thought, and the lazing girl nodded halfheartedly.

"I actually don't want to get involved with this entire mess, but what can I say? The moment Nejibana-shisou said that we're against An Akagi, I knew that we're in a big trouble."

"Is she that dangerous? I'm not really keen with the older girls' history, but-"

"They said Akagi wished to become God." The girl quickly cut her, "Well… people said many things about her, but that was what they mostly gossiped of because those same people were the one that fell to her… charm, so their words hold less weight."

"Charm? Is brainwashing not that rare for a magical girl's power? I know someone with 'charm' as power personally, and the power is not that useful other than as distraction for the enemy."

"Her charm was not her wish magic, lass. It was her natural charisma and skill for making argument that made others hear her every words, that's why it has no condition. No one really sure her wish magic anyway. But with the rumor that she was resurrected, people seem to deem her survival as a proof of it. I personally believe it too; how many girls can survive after her Soul Gem destroyed anyway?"

"… Is there nothing other magical girls know about her? Anything, like where did she lived or where was her school?" her pragmatic side childishly whined at the lack of her comfort zone. After several time loops she found safety and confidence in her research, the sudden lack of control over the information that is vital made her felt more naked than having no weapons in her initial timelines.

"Don't take my words on it because I'm not really sure myself about the legitimacy of something that had been passes from mouth to mouth, but what people mostly agreed of is that her father was a failure and she was 'murdered' by him to get her insurance… and that her mother was insane... Or was it possessed?" the older magical girl shrugged nonchalantly, "Any other details were not so much. Like, whether she had a boyfriend or no, though I heard from Nejibana-shisou who had heard from Makoto-shisou that she had."

"Makoto… Hinata Makoto?"

"Yes, her. I also heard that your friend restored the Shadow Witch back. That kind of power is very valuable to us, you know."

A chuckle rumbled inside Homura's head but she mostly ignored it.

"Yes, Madoka specifically wished for it so we won't be so burdened with our inevitably fate." Homura sighed softly, "Though I'm not really sure how we can share it to all the magical girls in the entire world. She's just one person, after all."

"Even though our sisterhood runs deep in humanity's history, the entirety of it is not that organized. We mostly united only when we had one goal in mind, like the incidents in 1991, and dispersed afterward. With the rule established to keep the secret from the younger girls, it's very difficult to quickly act against larger threat."

"And so, you bluffed to those white-collared big dogs." The black-haired magical girl stated blandly, which then gained an agreement with a slight snort from her companion, "I still think that the rule was unnecessary, if only toward the other magical girls." Her companion scoffed.

"You know how those young schoolgirls react to the truth. Let them die with their idea of heroism close to their heart, not turning jaded unlike us old ladies."

The door that separated the living room and basement opened with a loud steely creak as the magical girls excused themselves to go back to their personal abode. Emma sighed loudly and run her fingers in her long forest green tresses with frustration clear in each brush. The lazing girl smirked and chided her superior with a rhetorical, "How is it?" before easily dodged a large spear thrown at her. Its elaborately-crafted blade dug deep into the house's wall and Homura thought that it couldn't be pried off easily.

The day went pass so fast, her head was whirling. Nothing that notable ensued, beside her mingling with the other warriors, and in the end, it was also grew old fast.

But it was at the evening, the main curtain finally opened.

That white noise; something came from inside the speaker of the large flat screened TV hung on the wall. The TV itself broadcasting a news report, but that voice was clearly not from the previous drone of the man in Emma's TV.

"Quick, trace from where the broadcast came!"

Emma slammed her palm on the counter in an overzealous manner. A technomancer frantically focused her power toward the intruding presence, hand pressed flat against the TV unit, before shaking her head to the other witnessing magical girls.

"Still no use. Her mere existence seems to reject my signature from prying further."

"Damn! How did she do that? Don't tell me that all her hosts were made contract already…"

"No report on that from the Incubators, but that's not really helping our situation here."

"They are not magical girls?"

The room went ruckus since their TV set was broadcasting the monologue. She was aiming directly at them, the technomancer had said, as there was no other TV had the same broadcast. The way the previously thought to be dead magical girl hacked through the weaving of several technomancer already made them universally agreed that they are facing a magical girl. So the news that she wasn't send them to edge. Homura only stared at the screen, her words stuck in her throat as the disturbingly cheery monologue was vocalized with a horribly familiar voice.

"Madoka…?"

_**End of Chapter 11.**_

**88888**

The body An Akagi used in this chapter was the one that accompanied her in Chapter 5 and possessed in the end of Chapter 7.

The magical girls' world has a further expansion in this chapter and continues to be so as now the 'observation' spreads into the deep working of those Amazon-like societies. Mostly about the different wish magic that might be gifted into the wish; the wish magic has several 'archetypes' that exist in conjunction with the 'color' classifications that had been explained in Chapter 5.

Charm

This archetype is usually given toward those who wish for attention. The magical girls with this archetype are very charismatic, outspoken, and seductive; capable of enticing their prey with mind games and illusions, but in actual combat they have almost no offensive combat ability thought not always, so they usually classified into the 'Black' color because of that. Kyouko Sakura is one of them.

Empath

The archetype is for those who wished for anything that has connection with emotions. They strongly affected by their surrounding and, as the name suggests, empathic toward people they live with. Two kind of empath in magical girls are emotional kind, the ones that sought to help their folks through counseling, and calculating kind, the ones that usually more stoic and prefer to manipulate others' emotions. The empath is classified into 'White' color and Madoka Kaname is the emotional kind.

Mind Reader

A weaker offshoot of the empath archetype. Unlike the empath who can sense the intention of such thought and emotion, the mind readers could only read the thought like it was a text, and so incapable of detecting sarcasm and particularly clever liars. They are much more numerous than the empath and classified into 'Black' color.

Technomancer

The archetype of power granted to the girls who wished for progression. Whether it's a simple bamboo crane or AI, they could mold any technology into what they want depending on their particular specialization. Alchemy is the oldest kind of technomancer's branch and so the main strength of this archetype is to make disposable golems, homunculus, or automatons as their personal army. They are classified into 'Red' color and the legendary Ada binti Yahya ibn Hassan is the example of them.

There are many other archetypes, of course, and the exact gamble of what archetype the magical girl will get is depending on the wording of the wish.


End file.
